Chaos and Order: Godly Dissension
by Ageofmyths
Summary: 6 demigods get sent to the past, perplexed as things should run their course. Existence is in the process of hunting down his friends, Order and Balance. This is the story of Order, second in my series. Takes place at the same time as my third story. Does have *1* reading the books-like chapter, but that's the only one! Not a reading the books story. Plenty of heartbreak and drama.
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hey guys! This is the second of my two writing projects that I'm currently working on and just to let you know, this takes places after my first story, which will be posted sometime soon. In the meantime, I ask that you bear with this, and I promise, this story does not require in any way for you to have read the previous one.  
**

**Disclaimer: I'm not a white male from Texas who writes awesome stories. Rick owns all.**

* * *

Prologue

Zeus was trying to give a long speech again. Ares and Dionysus had both dozed off, Athena was arguing about the recent news the gods had received that Titans were stirring. Apollo and Artemis were bickering, albeit a bit more quietly than usual. Hermes was in deep thought. Now that the titans were indeed stirring, he would probably have to tell the other gods about his son Luke and the fate he had seen for him. Needless to say, that would cause a massive uproar and he didn't exactly feel like facing the whole council at the current point in time.

_I'll let them know about it soon enough. It's not like it is urgent news, anyways._ But even as he thought that, he knew it was a lie.

Demeter was twitching uncomfortably in her seat. _Heh, she's probably just realized that wasn't a normal cushion._ Suddenly, a high-pitched scream rang through the throne room. Ares and Dionysus jumped up in their seats, and Ares had his sword unsheathed in his hands.

The scurrying of eyes stopped on Demeter, who pulled out the cushion from behind her, and ripped it apart. _Here we go, _Hermes thought. Demeter was livid. Who had filled her cushion with _her_ cereals? Who had the audacity to crumble them all to dust and leave a mouse inside the cushion with it? All eyes turned towards Apollo and Hermes.

"Oh come on. It's just an innocent little prank. Are you honestly considering—"

Suddenly, a bright white light engulfed the area in front of the gods. Six beings emerged from this light and took stock of their surroundings.

Thalia's P.O.V

"Who are you? What are you doing in our presence?"

Oh great. I guess Apollo was serious about the time travel. Oh well, let's get this over quickly.

"My lord Zeus, we are demigods from the future. I would just like to ask what year we are in? Oh, and also, here is a letter from Apollo. We ourselves are not completely sure why we are being sent back, since the events that have transpired need to happen, at least the main ones do, for our future to be assured."

All the gods around the room looked stunned and annoyed at the same time. Apollo up to his tricks again.

"You, demigods, are in the year 2003. Now, let me read this note."

I got up and gave him the note, bowed to him and then the other gods, and retreated to my friends.

"How interesting. Apollo sends us these demigods from the future at the request of Athena. It seems these children from the future have managed to survive till 10 years from now. Apparently, the Fates have allowed this, provided that these demigods are safe when they need to return. Very well. Let us hear you. Tell us, who are you?"

I took a deep breath. This is going to be a shocker.

Third person P.O.V

"My name is Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus, Lieutenant of Artemis, and slayer of the Giant Porphyrion."

"Th-thalia? But how? You were a tree; I did that myself, to keep you safe—"

"Relax father. A certain friend of mine, ah, cured me of my condition."

"Who is this person? I must reward him immediately!"

"Brother now is not the time! Let them finish introducing themselves first!" bellowed Hades.

Zeus grumbled but waved his hand for the others to carry on.

"My name is Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, Architect of Olympus and commander of the demigod armies!"

Athena looked at her daughter, stunned. Commander of the demigod armies? What had happened in the future to require such a position?

"Annabeth, child, tell me, is there a conflict in your time? Has something happened to re—"

"All in due time, mother. The only thing I can say, however, is that we are all safe and sound, and have been so for the past 2 months. We are however, preparing to defend against a full-scale assault on Camp Half-Blood and possibly Olympus."

Another wave of confusion spread across the gods. What could possibly attack both camp and Olympus in large enough forces to require the need of an army to defend them?

"My name is Nico di Angelo. I am a son of Hades—"

"HADES! YOU BROKE THE OATH! AND—"

"Oh be quiet, Zeus. You know you broke it more times than he did." Hera said angrily at her husband.

"And as I was saying, I am from an era before the oath. I am the prince of darkness, lieutenant of the forces of Hades and am the one and only ghost king."

Stunned silence greeted these words.

"Son, I would like to know what happen—"

"Not now, Hades. Let them finish!"

Hades grumbled but sat back down and wondered about his little Bianca.

"I am Clarisse, daughter of Ares, and I marshal the forces of Olympus, by order of Annabeth."

Ares cheered up at his daughter's name and she blushed almost imperceptibly in return.

"My name is Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, Praetor of New Rome and I serve under Annabeth!"

"Zeus, who was yelling at who about the broken oath?" Poseidon asked testily.

Zeus grumbled and let it pass. He was happy that both of his demigod children were alive and well ten years into the future.

"And my name is Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon. I am not too keen on revealing my titles as of right now."

"Poseidon, were you saying anything before?"

"Oh shut up Zeus. Son, I think you should tell us all your titles."

"Okay, father. I am Perseus Jackson, child of the prophecy, Saviour of Olympus, Consul of Rome, Slayer of numerous monsters and giants."

Of course, he had left out the fact that he had not named half of them, but he figured those would be enough for now.

Apollo and Hermes both realized this, and asked who the monsters and giants were. Percy replied by saying that they were not too powerful, and certainly not worth mentioning in the presence of these gods. Artemis and Hera were stunned at his words. They did not expect modesty from a male demigod. Those were usually the ones who boasted the most. They were going to have to re-assess their current view of this boy.

Zeus, Poseidon and Hades all looked at him askance, and then they saw a powerful aura show itself through Percy's eyes. All three looked away and pondered on what they had seen. When was the last time they had seen so much power in someone's eyes? Hades and Zeus shared a knowing look. They'd have to interrogate him later on.

"We have been sent into the past so that the future may be a more comfortable place, and so that the demigods of our time may stand a chance. Therefore I am guessing as such, Apollo sent us a series of books detailing the occurrences, and, ah, it seems to be from my point of view. Oh great. Annabeth, don't get mad at me, please. I sort of rambled on in my thoughts and—"

"Relax seaweed brain! I know. Oh, mother and Poseidon, I would just like to say before we start that Percy loves me and I love him."

At these words, Aphrodite cried out in delight, Athena shot Percy a murderous glare and Poseidon looked slightly amused.

"I should also probably warn you that, um, my humour is only a way of expressing my, ah, nervousness and yeah so please don't judge me on that and—"

"Enough, Percy. Let's start reading the books. I need to get back and show them your disarming moves against hammers."

Nobody wanted to point out that since they time-travelled, they could return at any point of time in the future. Annabeth didn't like being wrong, and nobody wanted a cranky commander.

"All right. Who wishes to start us off?" Zeus asked calmly.

"I will, Lord Zeus." said Nico. He wanted to know about his friend a bit more.

"Chapter 1: I accidentally vaporize my pre-algebra teacher" Read Nico.

"Oh, before we start, seems like Apollo only wants us to read certain happenings. I don't see any mention of us going in the sea of monsters, Annabeth. The titan's curse... hmm, that's gotta be from when Zoe was around, and there's no Labyrinth mentioned, okay! So we're only going over a few of the actual occurrences, my lords and ladies. I guess you'll find out soon enough. We'll gladly elaborate and fill you in on the stuff that happened in between." Percy was in shock that he managed to get all that out in a single go.

"Percy's right, ask us anything if you're not clear, but we have to draw a line at any attempt to draw out the future events. No foreshadowing!" Annabeth chimed in.

"Alright. Let's go, Nico."

* * *

**A/N: Lemme know how you guys feel about this, I promise, this is not going to be like the reading the books stories, especially since the plot line deviates from this soon.**

**R&R! I really want to know how you feel, I'll accept justified criticism. :)**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys, I saw lots of you read this, which made me happy, but I see you guys are a shy bunch. Reviews please!**

**Special thanks to WriterOfDeath479 and Percyolympian for the follow and favourite. Also, please bear with me, this is NOT a reading the books story, I just had to incorporate this part to make it flow into the rest. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus. All rights belong to Rick Riordan.**

* * *

"Chapter 1: I accidentally vaporize my pre-algebra teacher" Read Nico.

"How do you accidentally vaporize something?"

"You'll see. Trust me, it gets weird very quickly."

Percy laughed internally as he realized there was another aspect to the title he hadn't considered. Vaporizing could also mean mist-travelling, and Percy tended to do that a lot.

**1 I ACCIDENTALLY VAPORIZE**

**MY PRE-ALGEBRA TEACHER**

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

"No one does" chorused the demigods present apart from Percy.

The gods looked at them saddened by the fact. If only Zeus and Hera could change the stupid rules. Hera shifted uneasily from all the glares she was receiving.

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

"Pssh Percy, if that worked, there'd be way more demigods alive today."

"Yeah, wise girl, I know that now."

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

All the gods looked at their kids, worry evident in their eyes. Those without their children present thought about all the ones present at Camp and silently vowed to try and help them regardless of the laws.

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages-if you feel something stirring inside-stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

"Percy, you're being real helpful right now. If they got this far, then they've already heard too much."

"Yeah whatever Grace."

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

"Don't! I do not want to hear any more about this."

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

**I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

**Am I a troubled kid?**

"Haha, yeah, of course you are, punk."

"Shut it, Clarisse, or I'll break lamer. Again."

Clarisse was starting to get mad but then realized he was just goading her into a fight because Ares was there. She wisely shut up while the rest looked at her like she had grown an extra pair of eyes in the middle of her head.

**Yeah. You could say that.**

"See, even you admit it."

"Oh whatever!"

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan- twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

"Like you had any business being there, Percy." Poseidon roared with laughter.

"Yeah, how did you survive that?"

Athena looked extremely annoyed at both of them.

**I know-it sounds like torture. Most Yancy field trips were.**

"I know, Annabeth. Sorry."

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**

Several gods wondered. Chiron making a house call? This boy promised to be interesting. Few of them had believed his titles and when he didn't wish to answer Hermes and Apollo they decided he was lying or over-exaggerating.

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

Athena looked at him, horrified. "You slept in class?" she screeched.

**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

Athena was already getting touchy about this boy. No matter what Annabeth thought, this sort of person was definitely no good for her daughter.

**Boy, was I wrong.**

Nico had to stop reading to allow for the roaring laughter from him, Apollo and Hermes.

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway. And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that… Well, you get the idea.**

"Are you sure he's your son, Poseidon? You sure he's not mine?" Hermes laughed, literally brought to his knees by his uncle's son. The amusement was visible in everyone's eyes.

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

_Maybe there is hope for him,_ Athena thought.

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

Several goddesses cried out in disgust. Hermes was indignant.

"Not all thieves are my children, you know!"

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated.**

"I bet Grover would really appreciate you talking about him like that Perce."

**He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

"It's that Grover isn't it? The satyr that got you killed? Who allowed him to go on another mission?"

"Relax father. I am here thanks to Percy, and I never died. It wasn't Grover's fault anyways, I chose my fate."

"Fine. But I'm still not going to forgive that satyr."

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

"You have a talent for trouble, Seaweed Brain."

"I know, Wise Girl."

"**I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

"Do it!" Ares was shaking with excitement. This book promised to be interesting.

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

"What is up with that girl? Seriously!", Demeter shouted. Maybe some good cereal for her would help build her character. Yes, she'd pay a visit to their pantry.

"**That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

"Useless, no good Satyr!, Ares roared. The others looked at him awkwardly and edged away slightly.

"**You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

_Definitely no good for her_. Athena swore she would either help him or show her Annabeth the light and get her away from this useless sea-spawn.

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

"I'm gonna say this once and only once, dad. I am fine, I live through the fights against the many monsters I face in this re-telling and all the other ones so please, do NOT worry about me."

_Yeah, that'll happen,_ Poseidon thought.

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker.**

_Sounds familiar, really familiar. _Hades' face was scrunching from trying to remember who this person is.

**She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

"Before you ask, no, I wasn't the cause of _that_." Everybody was smiling at the odd boy.

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

_Why does my daughter like this troublemaker so much? I must find out at the first opportunity._ Athena knew she'd have to act sooner or later. Sooner was always a better option for her.

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

Dionysus face palmed at Grover almost blowing his cover.

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?"**

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

"It always seems to, doesn't it?" Everyone was laughing now.

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

"**Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"**

"I bet you 40 drachmas Prissy knows exactly what it is." Clarisse said to Thalia. The latter instantly took up the offer because she knew Percy to be Percy. Clarisse started to wonder if she'd made the right decision, and if Percy had simply told her that he knew so he wouldn't be ashamed in front of everyone.

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

"HA! Pay up, Sparky." Clarisse was extremely happy and didn't say anything to Percy because she was afraid she might show some affection if she did.

"It just had to be that picture, didn't it? Pff. Chiron, next time choose a different one."

"Zeus, you're talking to a book, dearie."

"**Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because …"**

"**Well…" I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and-"**

"God?" Most of the Olympians present raised their eyebrows. Percy started stuttering until he was saved by Nico.

"**God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

"**Titan," I corrected myself. "And … he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters-"**

"Dude, you have the weirdest ways of expressing yourself. Ever heard of respecting the gods?" Apollo was almost shouting towards the end of the sentence.

All the demigods looked at each other and snickered, leaving a very confused council of Olympians wondering what was wrong.

"**Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

"**-and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

**Some snickers from the group.**

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**

"**And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

"HA! Serves you right!" Clarisse was muttering unintelligibly when Thalia's comment brought her out of her reverie.

"**Busted," Grover muttered.**

"**Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

"You should copyright that answer. You've certainly used it more than any other person we know." Everyone was laughing at Percy, who quickly turned away turning extremely red.

"**I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**

"My lady Artemis, just don't bother. I know how you feel, and I completely agree." Thalia sounded sincere enough.

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

**I knew that was coming.**

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go- intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

"**You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

"**About the Titans?"**

"**About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

"**Oh."**

Snickers went around the throne room.

"**What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

"He likes you, Perce."

"Yeah, thanks Nico, I know."

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped. But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C- in my life. No-he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

Athena tried to insult Percy, haughtily insulting Poseidon. Annabeth turned on her mother and said that he was dyslexic in the first place, it wasn't his fault spelling mistakes were hell for him.

Athena had the decency to look slightly ashamed. Poseidon was peeved, though. He didn't have dyslexia as a shield. Then he remembered this was about the spelling, and he didn't mind too much.

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

"Wait, that wasn't his wife, was it?"

"Erm... I have no clue Perce." Thalia looked sideways at the gods. They shook their heads, giving Percy the reassurance that he wasn't a completely tactless idiot.

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

**Nobody else seemed to notice.**

"What's gotten you two so annoyed? Shut your yap, Zeus, I don't want to know. Just shut up, and stop fighting with Poseidon." Zeus cowered under Hera's mighty gaze.

**Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

"Not mine, I promise." Hermes hastily interrupted before the situation got ugly.

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school-the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

"**Detention?" Grover asked.**

"Doubt it. This is Chiron we're talking about."

"**Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean-I'm not a genius."**

Snickers ran through the group again. Percy was starting to get annoyed.

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

"Haha, Grover never changes." Thalia was smiling at Annabeth's outburst, and remembered a time when something very similar happened.

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

Hera looked at Percy again, more closely. She decided she'd give this demigod a chance.

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends-I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists-and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

Dionysus looked annoyed. No, it was more than annoyed. The demigods looked at him curiously. Aphrodite and the other female gods were more than annoyed, however. What silly mortal would repetitively pick on the poor satyr and his powerful demigod friend?

"**Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

_Urg, you describe a bit too graphically for me, Percy._ Aphrodite then decided to look into why Nancy was so obviously focusing on Percy.

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

"Ah, this is the part where you destroy the puny mortal with my awesome destructive force, yes?" Poseidon put on a fake haughty air and the gods looked baffled at Poseidon until he started laughing off his throne. Percy joined in a few moments later, and then everyone got the joke. Percy wondered how Poseidon knew, though. He'd have to ask him later on.

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

"Materialized, huh?"

"Ares, he meant it metaphorically."

"Actually, Apollo, I'm not sure I did."

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see-"**

"**-the water-"**

"**-like it grabbed her-"**

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

"Uncle, I'll claim him as soon as he steps into my cabin once he reaches camp. You better be ready to claim him before I do." Hermes was grinning with a mock glare from Poseidon.

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey-"**

"**I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

"Of course it wasn't. Gee, Perce, I thought you better than this."

"Shut up and read, Nico."

"..."

"Oh you know what I meant!"

"**Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

"**Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."**

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

"**I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

"**But-"**

"**You-will-stay-here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

"**It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

"**Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now."**

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

"Puny stare! Haha, can't believe the mortal got scared of your puny stare."

"Ares, shut up before I make you." Aphrodite was getting annoyed by her no-good boyfriend.

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?**

"Alecto..." Hades muttered out without thinking. Poseidon turned to him with a look of anger.

"Really, brother? REALLY! You send him a fury? What did he do to you?" Poseidon shrieked.

"Erm, brother, calm down, please, it has not happened yet." Everyone looked at Zeus. He heard a few mutters going around the room whispering things like 'hypocrite', though he wasn't too sure.

Nico continued to read before something happened.

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

**I wasn't so sure.**

"You're using your brains? That's new, Kelp Head."

"Shut it, Pinecone Face."

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

"Yeah you don't say."

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

"No one to hear your cries..." Clarisse looked at Nico. That kid was watching too many movies with the Stolls.

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it…**

"So you can pick up subconsciously on the hints, yet you're still as dense as ever?"

"Thalia, can it." This time, it was Annabeth. She could feel Percy getting more and more annoyed, and she nudged at Thalia to show how irritated Percy was becoming. Thalia nodded her head and turned to Jason.

"Jason, you haven't said all that much, you okay baby brother?"

"I'm not your baby brother! And yeah, I'm fine. Just wondering at you guys for being so free with the gods..."

"We aren't our roman aspects, dear. Relax a little." Hestia always had a way with words. _Ah, there. He's finally relaxing more. _Hestia looked at him with a motherly gaze.

Everyone shifted comfortably in their seats, and Nico started reading again.

"**You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

_What a joke_, the demigods thought, _Percy playing it safe._

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

"Think again, hero."

**I said, "I'll-I'll try harder, ma'am."**

"What kind of an answer—"

"Look I had no idea what was going on, okay?"

"But didn't it surprise you in the least?"

"Sure it did. I was more scared than surprised, though."

**Thunder shook the building.**

"**We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

"Yeah, yeah, trademark line, whatever."

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room. Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

"Uncle, I'm extremely seriously about that claiming business."

Poseidon looked indignantly at him. Then he realized he wasn't afraid for Percy anymore and started grinning.

"**Well?" she demanded.**

"**Ma'am, I don't…"**

"For those who don't get it, think about the title of this book. At least, that what's I suspect. Am I correct?"

"Yes, Lady Athena. To a certain degree. Hades' Helm was also stolen."

Hades looked stunned and as if someone had slapped him.

"How? I'm always somewhat near it! Which one of y—"

"Sit down, Hades. I'm sure the book will explain soon." Zeus commanded.

"On with the tale, demigod."

"**Your time is up," she hissed.**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

**Then things got even stranger.**

"How can things get stranger? You've got a dirae in front of you!" Jason wondered.

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

"**What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword-Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

"Ah. Yeah I guess that was weirder."

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

**And she flew straight at me.**

"She still calls me honey. She needs to get her fantasies granted, Lord Hades."

Everyone in the throne room chuckled.

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

"Swinging the sword comes naturally to you?"

"Well, er, yeah, I mean it seemed like the only thing both to do and the only thing I _could_ do."

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!**

"You know, you favour your element all throughout your speech. You could have said "as if she were made of butter", but no, instead it becomes water and she's a lifeless inanimate object.

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

**I was alone.**

"Not bad, hero." Artemis seemed to be surprised at her own reactions.

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

"Must have given him quite the shock, yes?"

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

"And I'm guessing the mist took over and no one did anything to prove otherwise?"

"Yeah Jason, exactly. I was so frustrated at the end of it all that I, well, you'll see."

**I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

A chorus of who's rang across the room.

**I said, "Who?"**

"**Our teacher. Duh!"**

"Oh, right. Mist. As always."

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

"**Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

"Grover needs to get classes. Seriously."

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**

**I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

"**Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

"Chiron, you shouldn't toy with him so." Dionysus said looking up from sleep.

"**The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right? **

"And this is where the chapter ends."

Nico looked up from the book and saw everyone looking at each other, wondering who to give the book to next when a bright light engulfed the room.

"Who is it this time?"

In response, when everyone looked into the centre of the room, a huge black wolf with a silver streak along his back was lying down. Artemis was the first to shriek and draw a bow.

Then everyone got thrown off their feet as the wolf howled. A powerful blast echoed through the room. All of a sudden, the wolf bowed down on the ground and started fading. As soon as the shadows swirling around it had disappeared, the others saw who the wolf man exactly was.

A dark haired boy with sea green eyes stared back at the lot of them. He looked taller than Percy, and was wearing black jeans with a white t-shirt and a patterned black shirt on top. He bowed down to the gods, and asked what they had summoned him for.

The gods stared at him wide-eyed.

"We have not summoned you, wolfling. It seems, ah, yes, here's the note." Zeus muttered as he saw the note fall into his hands. He read it, then communicated telepathically with the other gods to inform them to remain calm. He turned around to face Percy, but saw that he wasn't there anymore. He decided he'd have no choice other than follow and do what the note told him to do and as such he introduced the young man to the others.

"Everyone, please, meet Perseus Jackson, wolf lord and son of Poseidon."

Gasps were heard throughout the room, none louder than Annabeth's one.

"Percy! Oh my gods, what... how? I never knew you could..."

Percy looked at her, and a wave of painful memories washed over him. He decided to ignore them, from what he understood, this was from before the attack on camp. Annabeth still loved him. His bitterness at these thoughts was almost heard through his next words to her. He gained dominion over all wolves from a special quest, apparently, and he claimed his heritage as a wolfling just prior to that.

When the council and the demigods calmed down, and after Percy had switched to his wolf from again (Clarisse wanted to see how powerful he was but he just shrugged and changed into a comfortable position), Zeus read from the note that they would not be reading all the chapters, and that Percy would pick the more important ones from the books.

When Annabeth asked him what happens in the future, and if anything happens during the war, he stayed quiet on the matter but just whispered one thing.

"You don't love me anymore."

A whisper that everyone hears. Shocked silence quickly turns to outrage on Annabeth's part.

"You're lying! You probably cheated on me with someone! Who is it? I demand to know who? And don't you even..." Annabeth got cut off.

"SILENCE!" Percy roared. Everyone shut up and looked at him. "I can't explain more, wise girl, other than the fact that apparently I remind you too much of Luke. And you need a break to go into the mortal world. Apparently I'm not good enough. So, please, be quiet and think before you talk."

"But... that's not true... I-I just..." Annabeth started sobbing. Percy went in his wolf form next to Annabeth and curled himself around her.

"Shh, Annabeth, shh. It's okay. Look into my eyes." Percy said quietly. His voice, although a touch raspier in wolf form, was also deeper and, somehow, more soothing. He blew on her face, and Annabeth's face went blank for a few seconds.

Noticing everyone's questioning glare, he answered "I've erased her memories of the past few minutes until her question. She will not ask that question as long as I am around."

Annabeth's eyes refocused and she gazed lovingly into the wolf's eyes. Zeus cleared his throat. "Perseus, which chapter do you consider important to read?"

Percy thought quietly for a second, before answering. "Read the third chapter. You might just find it interesting." He had no wish to make his father anxious by talking about the three fates, nor cause Hermes any grief, so he continued. "I would like to read this chapter. Would anyone—"

A chorus of 'no's answered him and he pawed the book. Which, almost miraculously, turned to the third chapter.

"My mother teaches me bullfighting." He read.

* * *

**So how was that, you guys? Please leave me a comment on the reviews, I just want to know what you think about this. Heck, pour your heart out, I'll read and get back to everyone of you and I'll definitely adjust to what you say.**

**R&R!**

**Thanks. Next scheduled update will likely be tomorrow. Also, there is a poll set up on my profile for the pairing for the Chaos and Order sequence I'm writing.**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey guys! Apologies again for the extreme gap in updates. I have been otherwise occupied, and so I didn't really get the time to get around to putting one of these up.**

**I'll probably be updating Finding Balance after this.**

**IMPORTANT: In order to understand what is going on this story you **_**will**_** need to have read my previous story.**

**Everything said in the other two stories applies here: multiverses, etcetera...**

**I think most of you will know what the pairing is in this story after reading this chapter. There, I said it.**

**This chapter is dedicated to Sairayu and Zapperian for updating their stories; amazing pieces of work from fantastic authors.**

**Disclaimer: Same as in my previous stories.**

* * *

Just as Percy was about to start reading, an immense shockwave rang throughout the whole room. A kind of black curtain began to appear, completely ripped and ragged, and it almost seemed that the very air surrounding this phenomenon was being torn asunder. Percy and the immortals groaned inwardly; there were going to have another guest, and by the looks of it, that person was either extremely powerful, or extremely forgetful.

Forgetful seemed likely, because you never willingly caused a rip in space-time unless you were absolutely certain of the consequences. The other campers stood, staring wide-eyed at the rip; they had not seen such a thing before. Annabeth and Clarisse figured out _something_ was coming through this rip to them; they just weren't sure what, or who. They readied their weapons; you could never be too sure of the outcome of spatio-temporal rift.

Something did come out from the rip. It seemed like a black ball of _light_ that glowed unbelievably bright. The globule swiftly changed into a humanoid form. When the darkness and swirls of mist finally cleared from the new comer, everyone in the room gasped in shock.

For the person standing in front of them was none other than Perseus Jackson.

Zeus was now annoyed. He turned to find the Percy Jackson who had been in the throne room, but _of course_ the guy was nowhere in sight. He was about to question the newcomer when a loud a deep voice rung throughout the throne room.

"Apologies for taking away your guest, but he was not the correct Perseus Jackson to your timeline. I have restituted him to his own timeline, harsh though his fate may be. Now, I return you your own friend."

The Percy Jackson that stood in front of them still appeared dazed; his eyes had a glazed look, not noticing what was in front of him.

"Oh, and please, remember one thing. None of what the other Perseus told you is true for this timeline, so, I beseech you, do not despair; try and set things straight, for that is the hardest part. I will now leave you in the more than capable hands of Or—Percy Jackson."

Everyone in the room could feel the presence leaving, as if some massive, oppressive weight was being removed from the air. The pantheon looked over to the adolescent in front of them; it was clear that he would need some help to get back; a quick call to Hecate fixed Percy's uncooperative behaviour.

"Why are you all staring at me that way?" Percy asked after opening his eyes for what he thought was the first time since his flash.

"Eh, Percy? You just went all Rachel on us and instead of green mist it was black. You said that we shouldn't be reading the books anymore, because it can't help us change the future, because the future should stay the same." Annabeth replied to her boyfriend.

"Okay... So what do we do now?" Percy turned to the Pantheon and directed the question at them.

It was obvious to the demigods that the gods were conferring with themselves mentally as no one could hear what was going on but all the deities in the room looked like they were arguing with each other. Just as they were about to announce the decision they had reached after _careful_ consideration, another light flashed into the throne.

At this point, everyone was exasperated.

"Oh sure, why not bring the whole bloody world in here!" Zeus was thoroughly miffed at his throne room being used as a random meeting place for people other than gods. However, when he saw who happened to 'pop' by, he shuddered and muttered an almost silent apology to _them_. Then he greeted them.

For it was none other than the three Fates themselves. Zeus welcomed them, but Percy's mind was somewhere else.

Perseus Jackson wasn't sure what he was seeing, since the last time he had seen the Fates they looked all wrinkly and old, _knitting immense socks like crazy old cat ladies._ **(A/N No offense to any cat ladies out there... truly)**

The three beings in front of him made Aphrodite look like a dumpster girl.

He drew a breath in, barely noticing Aphrodite going apoplectic. _Figures. I'm not the only one who hasn't seen them like this before._

_Actually, dear brother, you have seen us like this before, and much younger too._

Percy literally dropped backwards, raising a few eyebrows in the room, wondering what exactly in _Hades_ just happened to him.

He was saved from having to come up with something to say by Queen Hera.

"Lady Clotho, Lady Lakhesis, Lady Atropos, what might we be able to do for you?"

"We have come to deliver a warning and to liberate the mind of a hero. Hear us well, for we will not say this another time."

_Sheesh, what's with everyone and old dialects? _Percy thought. _It isn't as old as you might think, brother. Besides, we like to play around; we don't get much time for that._ Percy decided to keep his mouth shut. He figured he would find out what was going to happen sooner or later.

"Pray tell us, my ladies, what is this warning you speak of?"

Percy swore he was going to get a headache. He didn't seem to be the only one; Clarisse looked pretty grumpy, and Thalia was trying not laugh at the situation; she never thought she'd see the day when her _father_ showed this much respect to someone.

The three Fates turned and levitated in a circular fashion through the room; they only stopped once they reach Percy.

_And here we go again._

"Hear us, Preserver, we call on you. Awake, master of continuation, awake, brother. Answer our call, and help us in our time of need and trouble. Wake up, Lord Order."

Everyone hushed to see what would happen. They waited an uncomfortably long minute, and the Fates themselves looked unsure before a deep, mellow voice rang through the room and interrupted their pin-drop silence.

"Now, now, girls. What did I say about calling me Lord?"

Everyone in the room whipped to Percy and wondered at who he truly was. Zeus' headache had reached epic proportions; he had a feeling this was about to get a lot worse.

Perseus Jackson, or as he was now introduced, Order, stood draped in a black overcoat that extended to his knees. It may have looked like an overcoat, but it was a special cloak, designed by himself to work and adapt to his own needs.

He turned to the Pantheon, then towards the demigods, acknowledging all of them with equal respect, a fact that did not go unnoticed by the deities, and infuriated them to no ends.

"Relax, sisters, I am still your brother, and," he said, turning to Annabeth, "I am still Perseus Jackson, and your Seaweed brain. All I have done is woken up from my decades long slumber."

For the first time in her entire life, Annabeth Chase had no idea what to do or what to say to the man, (_wait, is he even a man?)_ standing in front of her. She wanted to drop to the floor, her knees were so weak; she truly had no idea who the person in front of her was.

The Fates decided to take the matter into their own hands (as usual) before it got out of control and explained the whole concept of Higher Beings to them present company, making a few jaws drop; but overall the gods took it better than expected. Ares was the only one who was still doubtful, and so he decided to see for himself what kind of _higher being_ Perseus Jackson truly was, so he challenged him to single combat.

Order pinched the gap between his eyes and replied that he better make this fast; the Fates had more important matters to discuss.

Everyone in the room went silent at this; a godly duel usually lasted hours and hours; after all, you could not expect a god to tire _too_ quickly. They were even more surprised when Order chose the duelling ground: the Throne room itself.

Zeus would have started whining, but the Fates assured him that they would restore any damage to the large hall. Soon, the place was quiet, just like before, but this was a silence filled with anticipation and anxiousness. The Fates smiled at their 'adoptive brother', the one who had taken care of them when they were born, and chuckled at Ares, knowing the beating the poor god of war was about to suffer.

Both fighters bowed, though the one Order gave was more of a light, curt nod. Then the fight began.

It wasn't much of a fight, to be honest. Order had made it _crystal_ clear that he needed to get this silly business over with so that he could hear what his sisters had to say.

And since powers were allowed (Ares _had_ been pretty foolish when he had insisted on that), Order decided he would combine swordsmanship and some of his powers to finish the fight.

The second the fight started, Ares broke into a run, swinging his sword in a circular motion vertically while pulling out a lance with an extremely potent spearhead at the tip. Order's lip curled the slightest bit possible upwards. Then he began his own move.

As he glided towards the floor, not even deigning to pick up his feet to move himself, he brought out Percy's sword and uncapped it. Ares noticeably flinched at the sight, purely because the blade was now emitting a fluorescent black wave of energy.

Order let Ares hit him full on with his lance, which, of course, shattered into a thousand pieces. With Riptide he parried Ares and kicked him flat in the chest, sending him sprawling over the floor. Ares groaned, and Order frowned; he hadn't meant to cause the little god pain. _Well, not too much, anyways._ Ares, however, picked himself, to the utmost delight of his sparring partner. _Great! Now I can knock him unconscious._ Order let Ares breathe for exactly 10 seconds.

Then he charged.

He covered the distance in a moment and with precise hits from both his hands left Ares crumbling, with limbs out of order. He had cap his sword so that it would not get in the way of his martial arts. With a final, light touch of his index to Ares' forehead, Order knocked him unconscious.

"Well, now that _that_ is covered, what were you saying, sisters?"

No one answered him; not even his sisters, who knew that he could do this, but were not any less awestruck by his deadly grace. He gave everyone a moment before clearing his throat, and, almost, subconsciously, everyone took a slight step back from him.

The three Fates were jolted out of their adoration and remembered the true purpose of their visit.

"Right. Well, we have come with a warning. This is especially true for you, brother. You see, it seems someone has returned. Someone you know very well. The only outcomes we have seen where the encounter is fruitful and harmonious with the true intent of the multiverses are those where you serve and protect Artemis _and _her huntresses."

Several arguments and multiple instances of disbelief later, Artemis calmed down and accepted Order in the Hunt.

"Only as Perseus Jackson, mind you! I will _not_ have an all powerful being ruining my camp!"

Percy was not sure he was hearing this properly, but he agreed, and Order thus came to the decision that maybe it would not be such a bad idea to go a long with. _I mean, if I lose control for whatever reason, those poor girls are screwed. No, I guess I'll have to agree and go along with her idea._

Annabeth Chase was _extremely_ furious with the outcome of the day's events; she had lost a boyfriend, gained a wolf, lost the wolf, gained her boyfriend again, and now lost him again. To the _Hunters of Artemis,_ of all raged internally. _Wasn't that meant to be restricted to women? This is impossible!_

Order noticed what was going on in Annabeth's mind and forced her to look at him.

"Annabeth Chase, you will _not_ cry over a man. Besides, I'm not even what you really think I am. You will _not_ fail me, understood?" Annabeth could only nod and turn her gaze away from the fierce eyes boring into her inner being.

"I see. You will fail your duty now at camp if this continues. Very well! Once we return you to your own timeline, you will not have to take care of any enemies; this I grant to you, _my champion_."

To say everyone was shocked would be an understatement. For the umpteenth time today, too.

Annabeth learned what being the champion of Order entailed, and quite frankly, she was glad. Order had also hinted that maybe her love would be discovered in different ways, and that she is not destined to be alone. Gathering up her courage, she asked Order what he meant when he said that no enemies would be present back in their own time; the answer she received made for five overjoyed demigods and a pantheon full of happy gods and goddesses.

The Fates had watched the proceedings for a long time; this was the longest time they stayed in the same place as the gods in quite a while. They turned backed to Order when he demanded the name of the enemy, and that was when they knew things were about to get messy.

"Brother, it is her. Ruin has returned, and she appearing, it seems, in different parts of this planet, in this universe."

Now it was Order's turn to be quiet, which the gods all took to mean disastrous news. Zeus plucked up enough courage to ask the Fates who Ruin was; the answer he got was not one he was expecting.

"Ruin is our mother; as well as the once... beloved of Order."

"Before she lost sight of her ideals and morals. You should thank us that she isn't a higher being. A rogue higher being could be extremely dangerous." Percy completed what the sisters withheld. Annabeth and Artemis both felt their hearts fill with sadness and pity, along with a twinge of jealousy.

After an awkward spell of silence broken by the ever-ingenuous throat clearing of Hermes, Order decided it was time to send the heroes back to their own time. Artemis prepared herself mentally for a guardian in her hunt, and when Order announced that he would only do it starting from the timeline of the heroes, she was more than a little annoyed.

Thus the Pantheon retired from their bewildering council meeting, with the maiden goddess waiting impatiently for the year to come around when she would finally meet up with Order again.

Meet up they did, even if it was a _long_ while later. Artemis met Percy, was saved by Percy, then the world was saved by Percy, and she just could not _stand_ any more Percy. The foreign feelings in her heart made her twitch with anger and resentment, and she needed to purify herself of those unwanted emotions. Then came the time when Order erupted from a rip in space-time, bring back the campers who had gone with Percy.

Artemis was watching with the gods that day, when Order obliterated thousands upon thousands of monsters and enemies with a bare flick of his hand, and that was when she started to become afraid of him.

Order felt the emotion and chided her mentally for it, when she hastily apologized.

_You have nothing to apologize for, my Lady, for from the moment this fight ends I am your Guardian and protector. However, I only wished to set you on the right path; how would I be able to do anything to you, who are now my Patron?_

It was a fine day for half-bloods all around; they had earned their prize: respite.

Annabeth Chase was announced champion of Order, and went about her own ways, while Perseus Jackson limited himself purely to elemental powers and battle prowess. He figured if the occasion demanded it, he could gain more power, but unknown to him at that point in time the Fates had accepted his vows and those of his Patron, and he could now no longer _fetch_ more power when he needed.

Still, he had spared some for him in good amount, and now he was about to get introduced to the Hunt. Artemis had warned him that he was _not _welcome there, and she herself would not be lenient to him. He accepted most gracefully; he had started to develop a soft spot for the huntress; not that he would ever admit it, but it was still a warm glow in his heart.

* * *

**So, thanks again for reading this; I would love to know what you think of it, and as such I'd like some reviews.**

**Sorry for the people who thought this was a reading the books story; it's not.**

**Until next time. **


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey guys! Spoilers in this AN, indicated so you can skip it.**

**I sort of let myself go on this chapter for quite a long while. I really enjoyed writing it, and I wrote it in a noticeably different style to what I'm normally used to writing.**

**I completely understand if you don't like it and want me to revert to my old style. I won't change this chapter, because I truly love it, but the next ones will be back to the same kind of writing style… unless you're happy with this. I won't know unless you review.**

**I hope you don't mind the plot. I like it, and I'm working hard to make the concept of parallel universes fit smoothly into the context of this story.**

**SPOILERS:**

**So if you're wondering why I like wings on Percy it's because it's a compensation to this parallel universe from my story Finding Balance where Percy gets the black wings of the angel of death.**

**END OF SPOILERS**

**Similar things happen in my stories, reflecting on each other sometimes, but this is simply to help with imagining the concept of parallel universes.**

**Thank you very much to all of you wonderful and beautiful people who are reviewing and favouriting my stories. I really admire the fact that you're not bored by my mediocre excuse for a novel.**

**If any of you have any questions you'd like to ask me, feel free to PM or review and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.**

**Now, on with the story.**

**Disclaimer: Same as previously.**

* * *

Gaea had left Percy Jackson a parting _gift._

The fates appeared to him the same day; instead of being finally able to resume his duties within the Hunt, Order followed the directives without questioning. He even agreed with the decision. It would only cause him to blunder and fail; Gaea's parting gift had made it quite clear that Artemis and the Hunt, as well as every other being Order had revealed himself to no longer knew who he was.

For all intents and purposes, Order had been reverted back to being the most powerful demigod this side of the Andromeda Galaxy (which, thankfully, fell under the same universe as the one he was currently in; he did not want to check on the parallel universes at the current point in time), otherwise known as the one and only Perseus Jackson.

He did not need a repeat of what happened last time he had tried to reveal himself to Chaos' creations, so when the Fates told him to forget himself, and learn of himself once his mortality was removed (i.e. when he died), he didn't hesitate.

Of course, just because people forgot that _he_ was Order, didn't mean that they forgot _about_ Order. Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, was still champion of Order, whatever that meant, and Perseus Jackson could not be with her. The rest, however, had promptly forgotten the higher being who was meant to be the Guardian of Artemis.

In his rage and grief, he tried to kill himself (which would have been quite a funny situation, considering the consequences), but failed miserably. Zeus would not grant him the relief of Death; the demigod who had saved Olympus was too precious to the gods. Most of them, at least; Ares had no qualms about sending him to Elysium, he even managed to come with a reasonable _argument_ why Perseus Jackson did not need to face any more _pain._

He had shut up when his hair had been singed off his head, and had decided he did not need to be dunked in water for the remainder of the council meeting.

After conferring mentally with his brothers, Zeus decided it would not be a bad idea to turn Perseus Jackson into a near immortal bodyguard. Most of the goddesses didn't need protection (apart from Aphrodite, but that was of a different kind), since they didn't tend to wander off on their own, facing dangerous monsters and other trivialities. None of the gods would even _hear_ of being given a bodyguard, so really, the only logical choice that remained was Artemis.

Without letting her decide what was best for her hunt, the big three blasted Percy with their weapons. Needless to say, the latter was shocked at first; he didn't expect they would comply with his wishes to kill him. His face then wore an expression of solemn gratitude, believing he was about to die. He smiled at his favourite deities before closing his eyes, awaiting the sweet, cold embrace of Thanatos.

Which never came, of course. He opened his eyes after noticing that he had been duped. This was more insult than he could take. He reverted to his sarcastic self, annoyed beyond explanation at the betrayal (he felt) of the gods.

Before he could say anything, however, the big three connected their blast and pointed to Artemis, who had an incredulous look on her face. She had definitely _not_ been expecting that. She was furious; the gods should have discussed this with her beforehand. She could not _stand_ Perseus bloody Jackson, with all his incredibly good looks and charm and great personality; he stood for everything that a man _should_ be but was not. He was the anti-male, from her point of view; the one exception to the thousands of males she had met, turned into animals, or slaughtered.

"Rise, Perseus Jackson, for we have decreed a new task for you. Obey and serve Artemis, as guardian of her Hunt and maybe you will find an answer to your existence. You will discover the reason why you are still alive; after all, the Fates have not decreed your time yet. Until they do, you must serve and protect Artemis and her Hunt to the utmost of your ability. What do you say, demigod?"

Percy's horrified look was more than enough of an answer for Artemis.

"See how he cowers; he would fail and quit within the first day, like the man he is."

Poseidon chuckled internally; this was the best way to get his son to accept the position. Percy would _not_ suffer to be called incapable, much less without having had a try at the task.

"My lords, I accept. I pledge myself to the service of Artemis and her Hunt, obeying her wishes and being the Guardian that is required of me."

That was an odd way to phrase it, Hera and Aphrodite both noted. They needed to know what all of that was about; Perseus Jackson was an enigma to them.

Before they could start questioning him, though, Artemis huffed loudly and accepted his pledge. Zeus dismissed the pantheon, with each deity going on their own way. Artemis motioned to Percy to come to the side for a bit, and he readily complied.

"Perseus, meet me and the Hunt back at Central Park. Don't be late; we have much to do." With that, she flashed out, leaving a very disgruntled Percy to find his own way to Central Park.

Five minutes later, a very out of breath Percy sprinted up to Artemis and the group of girls surrounding her. The elevator in the empire state building had stopped working after reaching the 24th floor. He had taken the stairs down, resorting to jumping whole flights of stairs when the occasion presented itself. He thanked Nico for the Curse of Achilles; he would have been badly bruised by now otherwise.

Artemis and the huntresses sneered at him for being late. She, of course, had had plenty of time to tell the Hunt about him and what he was going to be doing for them. The Hunt had initially been repulsed at the idea of a _disgusting male_ in their midst, but when they had learned it was Perseus Jackson, several of their expression had morphed into amusement. Thalia was happy to be seeing her cousin daily, pranking him 24/7 (or so she wanted to do), and the rest of the huntresses snickered at his misfortune. They had literally taken to rolling on the ground, laughing at his request to die.

"Only a weakling male..." The sound of their laughter was more than pure embarrassment for Percy; he didn't know what to do.

So far, however, none of them had tried to kill him, castrate him, prank him, or do anything worse, so he felt safe enough to take a small step closer.

Fifteen shiny arrows promptly chased him into a nearby telephone boot, sending a fresh wave of teary laughter at the plight of the _silly _demigod.

That evening, once Artemis had allowed Percy some free time from setting up all the camp borders and chopping firewood for the bonfire and the feast later on, the storm appeared.

The Hunters were slightly shocked by the presence of this storm; it was unnatural, it should not have been present. Was Zeus mad at them? They looked to Artemis questioningly, and the latter responded by pointing over to Percy, who was sitting in a meditative state near the small lake.

The astonishment was visible on the face of each and every Hunter, even Thalia.

"Since when could _he_ make storms _this big_?"

Artemis gave a noncommittal shrug; she didn't want to have to explain to the huntresses that Percy was the most powerful demigod in existence, stronger than the huntresses, with elemental powers rivalling and in some instances even outdoing Poseidon and Zeus.

Artemis had no idea how true what she said was. Perseus Jackson had been meditating to control his ADHD. While he was concentrating, he allowed a small stream of power to pool within his hands. However, without anything to do with the power, it dissipated, leaving his hands to transform itself in such a way as to mirror the emotions of its creator.

Needless to say, Percy's turbulent mind had been reflected in a storm and cloud formation five times as large as the Typhon system, back from when the Gods had been dealing with him.

Artemis silently beckoned Percy over to her, disrupting his quiet discharge. Without a complaint, the young hero woke up from his strange and placed himself at the side of the table where the Hunters were about to start eating, ready to be the perfect butler.

When everyone had fallen asleep and Artemis had returned from lugging the moon chariot around, Percy was allowed a small break, which consisted of five short hours of sleep. He would have slept more, due to his curse, but Thalia Grace proved extremely effective in getting the son of Poseidon up from the deep fringes of imagination back to the stark, harsh world of reality.

Over the next few weeks with the Hunters, he washed their clothes, served their food, chopped their firewood, lugged their tents, sharpened their arrows, and in short, did any task they could think of, without complaining. The high point of each day was when he got to feed the wolves; the latter had taken a special liking to him, snarling and growling every time someone else came to feed them.

Artemis was mightily displeased, but at the same time, grudgingly proud of the _male's_ accomplishments. The boy had done his duties without fail, helping through injuries, punishments, large amounts of tasks. He had done enough to be given some time to himself each day.

Percy took the opportunity to train himself; he did tremendous amounts of exercise thanks to Artemis, and on top of that he would get his practice automatons (gifts from Hephaestus) out and fight tirelessly against them, often taking out multiple adversaries with his deadly and precise strikes.

All the while he trained, the huntresses watched with silent admiration at the skill of the demigod. Artemis herself was mesmerized by his grace and skill.

One such day, after many weeks of training, fighting monsters, serving the camp, Perseus Jackson earned his first mark of honour. It was an old system, set up during the time of Selene and Helios, during the time when Selene herself had a guardian. Marks of honour, of which a guardian could only gain three before declared beloved of the hunt, were awarded for either particularly selfless acts of bravery vis-à-vis the Hunt and Artemis or spectacular displays of skill that help to better the Hunt.

The marks were by themselves prizes, for they symbolized the recognition and acceptance of a person in a midst and environment completely unnatural to them. By the time a person had earned their third mark, they knew for certain that those giving them the mark loved them dearly and accepted them completely. However, if the people giving the mark decided that the reward wasn't enough (since marks couldn't be given in quick succession, and no more than one mark per act of bravery could be awarded), they could decide to come together and conjure another reward for the brave soul. That single reward would change Percy Jackson standing in the Hunt and thus his life for the better.

It happened when they had an accidental run-in with Titan forces; neither side should have seen the other; the Titans had amassed a monstrous group of evil and dark forces with the help of the primordial of darkness Erebus. In a bid to move their army across to their own coast, the titans that were still this side of the gates of Hades had moved their whole army in one bunch.

That was when the Hunt intercepted them, though completely by mistake. Tailing an extremely bright source of power, the Hunt came face to face with the forces of darkness. There were normal monsters, demonic variations, enraged versions, all kinds of evil.

The dire wolf at the head of the Hunt snarled and growled in response to the hellish barks from the engaging army. That was when they battle started, and when time slowed down.

Quite literally, in fact. Percy Jackson inherited a quantum of the powers of time by defeating Kronos, and by times of rage or other deep emotion they showed themselves. At least, that's what he understood. So much the better for him and his lady's huntresses.

Scores and scores of monsters fell to the silver-coloured celestial bronze-tipped arrows of the Hunt. Added onto the fact that time had slowed down to their advantage, hundreds of monsters fell and dissolved into nothingness before even reaching the wolves. Percy made his stand there; he was much more of a melee fighter than an archer anyways. He noticed that while he was certain that he was using the time powers to their maximum extent, he was not tiring. Not bothering to find out why, he dashed off, not being able to hold in his battle bloodlust much longer.

Riptide was not a weapon; it was obliteration, pure and simple. The second Percy ran off, time went to normal for the huntresses and monsters, but Percy himself was impossibly fast. _Well, the huntresses did get about five hundred of the monsters. Now it's my time to party._ With a wolfish grin on his face, and slightly off the rockers look in his eyes, Percy forced on his time powers and moved from one monster to another before anyone could blink an eye.

The counter began to climb, twenty, thirty, fifty, a hundred, three hundred; the monsters dropped so quickly that even the full size of the army seemed to dwindle precariously.

Sensing that his power was about to run out, Percy did the next best thing. He alerted Artemis to move everyone back and began to draw power from the nearby lake and the clouds in the sky. Artemis was horrified when she realized what he was about to do; however, stopping him was not possible. She let the huntresses know of his plan and they all somersaulted behind their wolves and their mistress. Then the show began.

Percy had absorbed enough water from his surroundings to fully channel all the moisture around him. He began by concentrating all the water into the air, making it heavier and heavier until none of the monsters could breathe anymore and began to die by suffocation. Almost half of the remaining army fell before Percy felt the moisture growing heavily on him; he knew that he had expended one of his last tricks. Quickly taking away the moisture from the air he gathered it within himself and began to glow with power.

Artemis looked at the sight before her; it was truly incredible. She had riled Percy along with her huntresses long enough for him to have given up and left them, but the stubborn man had kept by their side, taking everything in his stride. _Truly, I doubt I could find a better man to be my Guardian._ She kept her compliments silent; now was not the time to admit her faults to anyone, and it would likely only serve to distract the hero from what he was about to do. Artemis had thought that the initial plan of suffocating the enemy would have killed him, and had almost shed a tear for the Guardian, but then realized that his father's element would not harm him so easily.

Now, as she watched the power pulse through young Perseus' body, she could not help but feel a bit of remorse at her behaviour for the past few months. Percy did not deserve the harsh treatment he had received at the hands of the Hunt. She turned to see her huntresses with a similar look on their faces.

Things started to go wrong the moment after Percy's left knee dropped to the floor; the power he was wielding was so immense that he buckled under it much in the same way that Atlas buckled under the sky. The monsters, recovering from their daze, rushed at Percy with inhuman and manic howls. Artemis tensed at the sight and pulled out her bow. Many of the huntresses nocked arrows in theirs, ready to protect their Guardian as he drew enough power to decimate the enemy.

As the first few monster reached within range, the silver arrows flew, straight and true.

More would have gotten to the Guardian, but in that moment Erebus himself appeared and brought with him reinforcements. The Hunt could only stare in horror as the enemies they had slaughtered but minutes before were now brought back from Hades by Erebus himself. Erebus didn't stay long enough to join the party, though. Instead, he left with a sneer and promise to meet them later.

Percy had gathered enough power to take them all out, however. He knew that Erebus would not be able to return any more of them because he himself was tired. Besides, if any more left the realm of the dark god, Hades himself would come with the keys of death to set things straight, no matter what the ancient laws decreed.

With a single mighty yell, Perseus Jackson unleashed the full strength of the seas on the unsuspecting battalions of unruly monsters and demoniacs. The bright blue-green glow that he emitted seemed to pulse with sheer force; the blast wave obliterated everything in front of Percy in a cone shape that went ahead for a long mile. Hordes and hordes of monsters, old and new, deadly and fangless, all were shred into thousands of pieces as the bright glow of the sea smashed into them.

Many howls and terrified screams were heard; the reckoning of those evils was at hand, and it was a sight to see. Unfortunately, there was a price for that reckoning; the required price was the being that had sent them to their deaths.

As the monsters dissipated into fine dust, Percy's form began to flicker and unimaginable pain shot through his body. The terrifying and heart-wrenching screams escaping Percy's mouth were enough to draw tears to the eyes of all the huntresses, and the whole Hunt gathered around him. One of the youngest huntresses, for whom Percy had always held a soft spot, little Rosie, suggested that he be given a mark of honour before he died.

Artemis didn't understand why Percy's form was flickering; he was not an immortal, and thus was not supposed to fade; but she heard Rosie's request and complied.

As the hunt bestowed their blessing on the hero, a bright light descended from the heavens and lit up the whole area. The huntresses tensed, but Artemis quieted them with a slight wave of her hand. She knew better than to offend the primordial deity in front of them.

"My lord Aether, it has been a long time. What can we do for you?"

Aether looked at her, his emotionless face breaking into a heart warming smile.

"Why, my dear, I thought you would have realized by now. I am stopping an untimely death, as decided by the fates. The only way to save a being from dying with a reckoning along with the monsters of my _father_ is to be held by the light."

Artemis' gaze flitted to realization and she quickly explained what Aether meant to her huntresses. Aether continued; even though he had placed Percy in a stasis, it would not do to hold him there longer than necessary.

"Now; do any of you deny that this hero is deserving of the light?"

The Hunt would have answered, except for the fact that they understood that this was a question that was not addressed to them but to other deities of the light.

"Very well, then." With that, Aether shot a blast of pure white light into Percy and murmured softly in his ears. "Awake, Archangel Perseus. Rise, and reveal to this world the true spirit of redemption. Serve the light and the light shall serve you."

Having finished with Percy, Aether waved a hand over the battle scene to purify the land of the thousands of deaths and returned to his domain.

The Hunt turned their attention back to Perseus, who had by now begun to glow off a pure white light. That was not the thing that startled them, however; they had seen Percy surrounded by the aura of the Sea, and that aura seemed much more intense than this soothing white light. He still had eyes closed, but that didn't strike them particularly.

No, what surprised them was the fact that Percy had begun to levitate from the ground, with magnificent, long, large wings of pure white light sprouting from his back, the image of a true archangel.

Artemis marvelled at the man in front of her; a true archangel of the light was now her Guardian. A blessing, she suspected, that had only been offered because Percy was prepared to give the ultimate sacrifice for the preservation of others. When she was about to ask him whether he was going to open his eyes or not, Hestia appeared next to the huntresses and told them that Elpis herself had left Pandora's pithos without being solicited. Hestia had followed Elpis straight to Percy, and she was about to demand an explanation when she saw Elpis bowing before Percy. After the bow, Elpis looked at Hestia and demanded the pithos so she could get back in.

Hestia complied, wondering at who Percy had now become; an archangel of light in the ranks of the gods; this was bound to get interesting. Just as she was about to leave, Percy opening his eyes, and everyone gasped.

Because, instead of his normal sea-green eyes, Percy now had bright white light filling his eye-sockets.

The face of the Hero was now eerily scary, and yet hauntingly beautiful at the same time. His whole body screamed nobility and each of his features were now extremely graceful and amazingly handsome.

Percy began to speak, but his voice was laden with power so intense that all those who heard it wanted to bow down to him and worship him. This was the voice of all that was good in the world, and none of the sickly sweet aspect of excessive _goodness_ was present.

A soft whispering was heard in the air, celebrating the rise of the new archangel, and the song carried over the winds to the four corners of the land.

"I, Archangel Perseus, claimed by the light, accept my calling. Let the Spirit of Redemption find a true champion in me, for now I am Redemption, Blessed Archangel of the Light, preserver of justice and patron of the repentant! Let those in need whisper my name, and then may they reap their true harvest."

**(A/N Excuse the bullshit there, but I needed to write something like that, to make it plausible.)**

With that, Percy glided to the ground, his wings fully outstretched, his eyes still glowing bright. He faced the field where the battle had taken place previously and drew Anaklusmos out. He recited a few incomprehensible words and riptide morphed from the celestial bronze sword that it was to a two-hander, five foot long gleaming white sword. The handle and grip changed to a circle cut into four equal parts, connected to the rest of the blade by the point where all the endings converged.

Even though it was obviously intended to be used as a two-hander, Percy picked it up and twirled it with finesse and grace with only one hand, demonstrating that for him, nothing had changed. He spoke a few words that made Artemis and the rest of the Hunt very curious.

"I know thou seest me, huntress. I thank thee for thy blade, and bid thee accept and see the new one as mine old. Bless this blade, huntress, and any of the huntresses following Artemis will be able to wield it with ease."

Nobody truly expected a reaction, so when the constellation of the huntress, Zoë, became fully visible in the twilight of the day, Rosie gave a short squeal and pointed skywards. Fifteen pairs of eyes shot straight up and noticed the constellation... bowing in their direction.

Percy smiled and promised again that he would serve and protect the Hunt and Artemis. He noticed a small half crescent moon tattoo on the back of his right hand, and smiled. He had received his first mark of honour, and he fully intended to receive two more before his service ended (or rather, was forcibly ended). He reminded himself he was not fully immortal, he simply enjoyed the same benefits as the huntresses, and added that to his identity as Archangel and son of Poseidon.

With a slight shock, he noticed he had lost his previous ability to control large amounts of water, and that he could not do a few of the tricks he had been able to beforehand. _Ah well. If such is the price to be paid in order to be blessed by the light, then I regret nothing._ With that, Percy shot up in the middle of battlefield and held his sword, now named Lux Aeterna, high above his head. He yelled at Artemis and Hestia to put up a shield around the huntresses and sent out a blast of light around him in a circle that stretched until it covered the whole battlefield.

The huntresses saw to their dismay that some of the dust began to take shape again. They did not, however, do anything about it, because their Guardian seemed to be the one summoning them. One by one, it seemed, all the demoniacs gathered near him. Percy sent another blast from his sword, and the black from of the demons shattered. Pure spirit of white light all bowed down Percy before ascending to the heavens, returning to Aether after having been captured by the forces of Erebus.

The goddesses present watched in awe as the proceedings finished, and Percy came down before them. He surprised them by bowing low, before asking Artemis somewhat cheekily, in a manner that did not fit his magnificent, mellow voice at all.

"So, my lady, where to now?"

* * *

**I sincerely hope I did not disappoint you too much with this update. I completely understand if you didn't like my writing style there; give me a review about it and I won't continue the style.**

**Don't worry, this story hasn't seen the last of either Ruin or Annabeth or the Fates or Erebus. But that, of course, is the topic of a different chapter.**

**I wish you all well, and I'll be back with another update in due time.**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey guys!**

***Cue vegetables and random things being thrown at me***

**I'm sorry, okay? I didn't intend to take such a long time to update, ya know?**

**It just sort of happened.**

**So I've decided to reward your patience and yada yada by giving you an 8k chapter (rounded).**

**SPECIAL THANKS: This chapter is dedicated to both:**

**Badass Batman, who defended my story from evil people who wanted to copy me, **

**And StephOTH23, who helped me immensely by suggesting different ideas, some of which I've incorporated. So, at least five ideas are hers, in this chapter, PM me if you really want to know which. Credit to her.**

**Enough babbling, on with the story.**

**Disclaimer: Look at the previous ones.**

* * *

Percy Jackson was exhausted. _Serves me right, should have kept my mouth shut._

As soon as Percy had continued with his sarcastic mannerisms, Artemis and the Hunt had reverted to their natural state; the huntresses were as obnoxious with him as ever, and Artemis kept him at his chores. When he had dared to ask why, he was told that since he was _so obviously_ more powerful now, he was best suited to do _all_ their chores.

"... And you know, Perseus, if any of my huntresses were to do them, they would be insanely tired from it." Percy grumbled at that. Of course they would be, but they would never do it alone in the first place! He knew that they all worked in groups to get their tasks done.

"What about you, my lady?" Artemis raised an eyebrow at that.

"What about me, boy?" Percy gulped and quickly apologized. As much as he enjoyed riling the goddess, it would _simply_ not do to have another immortal on his case.

"Were you, by chance, asking me why _I_ do not do the chores?"

Percy immediately jerked his head sideways very quickly, to signify a 'no', but his expression was so hilarious that Artemis took extreme pleasure in taunting him.

"N-no, m-my Lady," Percy stuttered as he answered.

"Good. Now, boy, go back to cutting those trees; erect your own tent and camp at least forty yards away from the bonfire." As Percy hurried away, he wondered what on Earth had happened to cause him to lose so much respect and thus, power.

He put away his sword. This was a pitiful sight. One of the most charmed, blessed, and beautiful blades in existence, and here he was, forced to use it for a task so below its noble purpose.

He wasn't actually sure about that, but he was damned near certain that a sword such as Lux Aeterna – Eternal Light – was one of a kind. _I mean, for Hades' sake, the blade had an _aura of power!_ It generates its own heat!_

Which was also, of course, one of the reasons why he cherished it. The long, bright, silvery-white blade had an intense air of purity about it; it seemed to pulse with power.

Percy had found out, by pure chance, that blade cleaned itself; rather, it could not get stained, as much as he tried to stain it.

Percy sat down on the tree stump he had created, and thought about that day's events.

He had been slashing at a training automaton one afternoon, when the god of the Forges himself flashed in front of him. He hadn't let that affect his practice, and with a quick display of enchanting and deadly grace, he had lopped of the automaton's head. Once Hephaestus got over the sight, he told Percy that he had a gift for him, as a combined present from him and Poseidon.

Percy accepted the gift graciously and turned into his angelic form, before bowing deeply to the god. It was a mesmerizing sight; an archangel with his wings spread out completely, radiating a sense of divinity, bowing while levitating in mid air with a five foot long two hander in his hands, directed to the ground. The blade shone fiercely in the presence of the god, and Perseus Jackson looked so magnificent that Hephaestus had to stop himself from bowing to _him._

_What a ridiculous idea._

Hephaestus explained that he had created a special automaton, based on Annabeth Chase, who was the current champion of Order, for Percy to train against. Ignoring the little box of hurt inside him, Percy asked what made this automaton so special. His pure, glowing white eyes found Hephaestus', and he instantly learnt what the god was about to say. He listened anyways, out of politeness.

"Well, you see, when we told Annabeth you were going to use it to practice against, she used some of her blessing and transferred it to the automaton. So, in a way, it shares a lot of her abilities."

"And what might those be?" Percy smirked, he _knew_ he could beat Annabeth if they sparred, no matter that she was now the champion of Order. Besides, Percy had a few choice words reserved for Order when he next saw him.

"Well, you see," Hephaestus started, "it mirrors her abilities, and is able to use them, albeit at a lower efficiency level. However, I have made a few adjustments to the structure and allowed it a more powerful reinforced carbon fibre and steel glass compound for its outer skin, and diamond chains linked together in a sort of ring mail pattern, scaled down to resemble minuscule diamonds rings, as its bone structure. You'll find that this, combined with the champion's abilities, makes its body almost as impervious to damage as a bath in the Styx, minus the mortal point."

Hephaestus took a sizeable breath before continuing, and Percy felt a slight ripple in the distance, announcing that Artemis had taken off to Zeus knew where. Obviously on Zeus' orders, since no thunder grumbled in the distance. He returned his gaze to the smith god.

"The champion's blessing, by the way, ties up a bit of Annabeth's power; it seems that the young demigoddess still cares about you enough to part with some of her power for you."

Hephaestus quickly switched to the topic of what the blessing entailed after stealing a furtive glance at the archangel, whose demeanour indicated that Hephaestus was on delicate ground, it would be unwise of him, Olympian or not, to continue on the subject.

"Uh, yes, as I was saying, it has greatly enhanced endurance and dexterity, so it should be able to hold its own against you." As an eyebrow quirked up in surprise, Hephaestus elaborated. "I believe the blessing complements the compounds I have used, so you should be wary, even with your ... skills."

Percy gave a slight nod to Hephaestus to continue, and found himself examining the automaton, now that Hephaestus had finished unveiling it. He took a step back in surprise; it was modelled after his own _mother._

"Why exactly is this designed after my mother?" Percy asked, the acid in his voice so violent that Hephaestus flinched and took a step back. Percy continued with a hiss, "Why am I fighting my _own_ mother?"

"Percy, please, it wasn't my idea. Your mother insisted on this." The shock was clearly visible on his Percy's face as Hephaestus recounted what length his mother had gone to be able to do this.

_Dammit, Mom. I'm so sorry about all of this. I should have come home. I really should be visiting her._

Percy remembered when he had last visited his mother; it was almost two months ago, and he hadn't even bothered to Iris-message her. Granted, he _had_ in fact been otherwise occupied at almost all times, but this was inexcusable on his part.

When Hephaestus explained that he had rigged it in such a way so that his mother would be able to hear everything that he said to the automaton, and could basically act as a surrogate point of contact for the two of them, he was overjoyed. He dreaded having their first chat in a long while; she was his mother, and he had neglected her.

Hephaestus had not finished talking, however. Percy had noticed that the automaton did not have any weapons, and he wondered whether that meant it would be unarmed combat from now on.

Hephaestus pulled out a shiny azure trident from his backpack and gave it to the automaton, which he had just activated. Percy stared, dumbfounded; he hadn't really faced someone wielding a trident before, but he figured it was like a spear, with three spikes at one end instead of a single one. Then he noticed the trident was designed for both single hand wielding and two handed wielding, as the trident seemed to contract and retract.

Hephaestus saw the twinkle in Percy's eye, and chuckled lightly. "Of course, your father commissioned _that._ Don't be fooled, Percy, it can morph into two short swords if the wielder so requires. I've seen it make for some excellent celestial gauntlets, too. Perfect for bashing things. This is one mighty automaton you got here, Percy, I suggest you take care when you spar. It's got a regeneration and auto-repair system, so don't worry about healing. Since it's one of a kind, Athena agreed to enhance its motor systems; beware, that's all I'm going to say."

With that, Hephaestus gave a curt nod and left. Percy whispered to the automaton; it felt weird to know that his mother was nearby; so close, and yet, so far away. Since the automaton was activated, he spoke with his mother. He explained his current situation when his mother asked him about his wings, and a look that Percy couldn't identify crossed her face.

Sally Jackson started laughing uncontrollably. Her little boy was now an Archangel. After a few moments of continuous and contagious laughter, mother and son stopped and looked at each other, Sally through her automaton's eyes, and Percy through his glowing white eyes.

"You know, Percy, Lord Hephaestus has given a sort of remote control device for this automaton. Which means I can help you, from now on, in a much simpler way than before." Percy smiled at this. Trust Poseidon – because he had no doubt it was Poseidon's idea – to find a way to help him out.

He frowned as he understood the full implications of that statement. "But mom, you don't exactly know how to fight with weapons, how will I train?"

Percy flinched as Sally rapped him on his harm. "Percy!" She scolded, "I have functions available for automatic combat! You didn't really think I would fight, did you?" Percy looked back up at her, sheepishly.

"Sorry, mom." Sally's chuckle brought another smile to his face, and it was clear to anyone who may have been spying on them that both of them were happy people once more. After a few more minutes of simple chatting, Sally told her son that she had to leave and get back to her work. Apparently she was writing a book, and she had managed to find a great publisher for it, courtesy of Athena. She said that she would get Percy a copy as soon as the book came out, and he responded by citing his dyslexia as an excuse for not reading it. He had not doubts that it would be a great story, however, to which Sally grinned with a look that said she knew more than he did, which, admittedly, in this case was probably true.

After a long awkward hug with the automaton (mostly for Percy's satisfaction, since the surrogate was as close to his mother as he could currently get), Percy stepped back, and Sally Jackson cut the connection. Percy decided he would try out the automaton, and he flipped open the control panel on his mother's doppelganger's wrists. He had expected a complicated system of commands and controls; after all, this was Hephaestus' work. He was pleasantly surprised; a single switch for activation and another one for auto-pilot mode and manual command mode. He grinned and decided to keep to his true form of Archangel, letting his eyes glow with a lot more brightness than before; he was a walking spotlight.

When he had finished, he flipped the switch to auto-pilot, and glided backwards as the automaton jerked into action.

The trident from Poseidon materialized in its hands, and it morphed into two mean looking gauntlets with a lion-head design.

_Damn, those look like they can pack a real punch. I guess it's avoiding all sort of frontal contact._

With that, Perseus Jackson swiftly hurtled towards the automaton. However, he had grossly underestimated his mother's look-alike.

Just as Percy brought down his greatsword in a diagonal, the gauntlets shifted into a massive broad shield and a war hammer. The automaton blocked Percy's attack, and brought up the hammer in an uppercut hitting Percy under the chin so quickly that the demigod did not have the time to back away.

The blow from the hammer was powerful enough to send Percy several feet high in the air, where staggered in mid-flight and regained his battle stance. He swore as he noticed the hammer change into a crossbow.

Swift as thought, Sally the automaton began launching triple bolts at Percy. The latter was surprised by its reload speed; a crossbow was not built for speed, it was built for power and accuracy. Yet here he was, forced to send out multiple waves of power in quick succession to deflect the bolts shot at him.

Percy had had enough of this; it was time to continue with their melee fight. He flew up as high as he could in ten seconds and then began to plummet down towards Sally. A half second before impact, however, the enhanced automaton did a backflip and landed on her feet, with her weapons morphed into gauntlets again. The back flip happened to be in perfect synchronisation with Percy; the second he hit the ground a powerful blast wave of pure divine energy was unleashed an expanded outwards like a ripple in water. It managed to pass right under Sally's back flip, however, which annoyed the angel to no end.

They resumed their fight, speeding at each other, but then both of them tried to pull off the same trick. Just as they got to within ten yards of each other, Percy and Sally punched the ground in front of them with both fists.

The consequence of this action was an awe-inspiring sight, as the two massive shockwaves collided and the constructive interference produced an earthquake twice as powerful as the one each had tried to do separately.

Both fighters were thrown off their feet, and Percy regained composure first, seeing as he was able to launch himself to the airs at the last second and thus greatly reduce the effect of the aftershock.

_Huh, I guess that won't work either._

The automaton seemed to realize the same thing as it morphed its weapons back to their original, tri-pointed, deadly form. Sally then reached some sort of wire in the back of her head and pulled, making a shield pop out and cover her left side.

Percy grinned; it was time for an all out battle. He picked up his greatsword in his right hand; to him, it was light enough to be a simple sword. He then concentrated for a bit before putting up his left hand, and the bright outline of a shield began to form.

A couple of seconds later, he stood, watching Sally warily, with a translucent shield protecting his own left side. Sally looked at him straight in the eyes and began to whirl her trident around; Percy did the same. It was currently a face-off to see which would break under the strain of pressure, a typical man vs. machine. Admittedly, Percy was not a normal man, but the automaton was not a normal one either.

Their weapons met, instead of their shields, and Percy began to push with his shield against the automaton. It would have seemed an almost comical sight, two weapons crossed and two shields being forced diagonally against each other under the weapons.

Percy almost crumbled against the push; he was going up against a tremendously powerful automaton, and he couldn't figure out how on earth it had so much strength. From what he had understood, Annabeth's blessing only made it extremely quick.

Of course, what neither of them knew was that the automaton was able to leech some power from Percy, since he was the one who had blessed Annabeth in the first place. Since some of Annabeth's own power was tied down in the automaton, the latter was able to siphon off what it needed from Percy.

Sally gave one tremendous push against Percy and kicked herself off using his shield. She put away her shield and focused on wielding the trident properly. Percy, not willing to be outdone by a mere _robot_, even if this one was unique, put away his own shield and decided to hold his greatsword in both hands.

This time, when they met, they exchanged blows instead of having a show of strength. So they fought, for several minutes, parrying and slashing, dodging and thrusting, dancing to an ever-changing rhythm, something which seemed to take both fighters to their edge.

To any onlooker, the scene would have seemed chaotic; there was no visible tempo of battle, one moment they seemed to rush and cut at each other at very high speeds, while the next they were seen to be slowly retreating, each step measured as if a waste of energy. There was no proper rhythm to which they were dancing, that much was obvious; somehow, however, it made the fight that much more interesting.

This continued for what seemed to Percy to be a whole hour, before he decided to change tactics. Him and Sally were evenly matched, in both skill and stamina, it seemed. He decided to let his eyes shine out with light, just like his mouth; the simple sight of that would have scared away most people. Instead, here, it worked as a distraction. Sally did not have the time to adjust to the bright light being shone directly in her face, and while she was reeling from the sudden attack, Percy began his onslaught.

Sally barely had the time to notice Percy's greatsword being brought up before he charged at her, with Lux Aeterna twisting the very air around it. Sally used the trident to hook Percy's sword out of his grasp, but the automaton did not have enough time to manage the move completely, resulting in a rather resounding crash as her trident was pulled away from her instead.

Just as Percy brought down his sword, Sally connected her pop up shield with it and forced it up so quickly that it almost made a gash in Percy's face.

Percy kept pushing, his position uncompromising and steadfast, and Sally had no choice but to put both her mechanical arms behind her shield and return the favour. It got to the point where Percy had to use both his hand, and to gain leverage he placed one hand on the actual blade, and kept his posture.

Blood trickled down the length of his blade from the sizeable cut along the palm of his hand, but he paid it no attention. All that mattered to him was winning this fight, and he wasn't going to let a little bit of blood distract him.

When Sally Jackson reactivated manual control of her automaton, she was not expecting to find it in the middle of a frenzied fight. She then gasped at the scene; her son's blood was flowing freely down his blade, and he seemed to be the one who was responsible for that. She yelled at him before putting away her shield, much to Percy's displeasure. He'd been tricked out of a fair and even fight, and he didn't like it one single bit. He kept his head bowed, though; this was his mother, and she would never stop worrying about him.

Later that day, when he realized he hadn't cleaned his blade of his blood, and that it probably had caked by then, he rushed to get a pail of water. He grumbled under his breath about missing his water powers, but when he took his sword out to clean it, he was dumbfounded. It did not seem to have a single drop of blood on it; in fact, it seemed so _clean_ that Percy wasn't sure if he had even been using this sword. All that blood on it, yet it seemed completely immaculate. He gawked at his sword before going around the huntresses and asking them if one of them had cleaned his sword, to which they had replied rather haughtily that no _Hunter_ would debase herself to clean another man's sword when it was clearly not even their duty to do so.

As he went over the memory, Percy pondered on where his life was going. He was a wreck, his gaiety and good-humour all lost on the huntresses, just like his sarcasm, Annabeth had left him, Artemis was displeased with him, the Hunters were one short step away from disliking him, and his eyes had lost a lot of their shine. He wondered what was going on with him; after all he couldn't be losing his status of an Archangel so quickly, could he?

Dispelling those thoughts from him mind, he got up and picked up his sword. _Back to hacking I go._

After a good hour of work which left him sweating profusely, Percy went to take a dip in the lake. If he was indeed losing his status of an Archangel, he would need to find some way to contact Aether and figure out what was wrong with him.

He immersed himself in the lake's waters, and he felt completely rejuvenated. He focused hard on the water around him and managed to create a sort of underwater hammock, and he laid down on it to relax for a while.

After a good hour's nap, he woke up to a ripple deep in the lake's waters. Intrigued, Percy decided to explore; he was completely taken aback by his findings. Apparently, the lake opened up to an underwater aquifer via a small gap, and the aquifer extended below great depths. Just at its opening, where barely enough sunlight reached for the underwater algae to grow, he found an amazing variety of corals and other life forms. He was surprised; he didn't think it was possible for corals to grow in these conditions.

He investigated for a while and found the source of the disturbance he had felt earlier. It seemed that somehow, this lake held a big variety of wildlife, and was home to a hunting barracuda. He went wide-eyed; how did the fish get here?

He was greeted everywhere he went, of course, and the old barracuda told him his tale, how he was brought here when he was young, how an old couple had been preserving the fishes and reintroducing many species into the gentle waters of the lake, how he had managed to survive going into the aquifer below and found another exit, this time to a rather important river, a mile or two to the north of their location; briefly put, the two exchanged stories as if old friends.

Percy noticed he had been shirking from him duties for quite a while now, and it had been almost three hours since he had finished his chopping. He excused himself, and was met by a chorus of '_Goodbye, lord'_ on his way out.

He was met with an unexpected situation when he got back to the bonfire. Apparently, dinner would be starting in a couple of minutes, and Artemis was _extremely_ annoyed with him being late. He apologized immediately before turning to the hooded person in front of Artemis.

Artemis began to introduce her.

"Ah yes, Perseus. I'd like you to welcome our special _guest_ into camp. She will be travelling with us until we finish tracking this new evil that the Oracle has been dreaming about. I believe you two know each other." Percy's eyebrow shot up at that, and he turned to the mystery girl in front of him and tried to look straight into her face.

Something he didn't need to do, however, as the girl pulled her hood off and smiled weakly at him.

"Hey, Seaweed brain."

* * *

Perseus Jackson was livid. He had excused himself the moment Annabeth introduced herself, and had run all the way to Artemis.

"My lady, I cannot do this! You can't do this to me! You know what happened, you of all people shouldn't be doing this to me, please!"

Artemis turned around with a cold, hard stare. "You will do exactly as I have said, Perseus. Annabeth Chase will be helping us whether you like it or not."

Artemis heart softened at the broken hearted look on Percy's face. She felt the urge to comfort him, to let him know that everything was going to be okay. "Percy," she started, "maybe you should go and talk to her. Maybe you will be able to work something out. She is a worthy soul, brave and pure. Go, talk to her, make her feel welcome at camp from your front; the Hunt has already accepted her."

"Your will, my lady." Percy replied in a constricted tone. He did not want to have to face a certain daughter of Athena right now, but it seemed he had no choice.

A cornered wild animal will lash out, but Percy wasn't wild anymore. He had been transformed into a different person, one with a more composed and calm character and this was especially true when he brought out his true form.

"Oh, and Perseus, Lord Aether contacted me. He wants to see you sometime tomorrow. Be prepared for a visit, probably at high noon."

"Thank you, my Lady." So, Aether had figured out something was wrong with him, too? This was good, he wouldn't have to deal with his problem for much longer.

Percy walked back to Annabeth at a brisk pace; she had gone over to the bonfire, and was now walking towards Percy's separate tent and camp. He caught up with her after she had finished inspecting it, not willing to show off his abilities.

"You know, Percy, not a day goes by that I don't think about you." _Yeah, so you still decide to leave me on my own, and run off to go and do whatever it is you do, not giving a rat's ass about the heart that you left in pieces._

Annabeth must have seen the look on Percy's face because she immediately turned to him and pulled him into a tight embrace, murmuring quiet words of comfort and whispering into his ears. Percy did not seemed to respond, though, and his arms hung limp at his sides, his face morphing into one completely devoid of emotion.

"I'm so sorry, Percy, but it was a calling, and I couldn't refuse! You know I couldn't. Please, Percy, talk to me at least, will you?"

The whispers were lost to him as his mind had gone into overdrive, shutting off his motor functions, and the glazed look in his eyes a dead giveaway that he was seeing visions of him and Annabeth at different points in their lives in the past.

Annabeth's murmurs took on an air of urgency and despair as he still kept himself secluded, stone cold in her grasp. She let go of him to look carefully at his face, before deciding to give brush her lips against his.

She kissed, but he was not answering. Hot tears began to well up in her eyes, and she let a single one loose down her face, still trying to kiss Percy.

When Percy felt the hot tear on his face, he was jolted back into reality. With a slight yelp he pulled back from Annabeth's lips; soft as they were, he did not know what to make of the situation.

Annabeth took the rejection harder than she thought she would. She thought she had prepared herself for this; after all she was the one, she had left him behind, and she should have expected that someone as good as Percy would have moved on; he was simply too good a person not to be sought after. Not just his personality; it seemed he had gotten even more good-looking from the last time Annabeth had seen him.

As she was trembling violently, Percy got to his senses and took proper stock of the situation around him. His heart melted at the sight of the obviously distraught Annabeth, and he quickly reached forwards and grabbed her in his arms, pulling her in a comforting hug. Annabeth's shock disappeared quickly, and she relaxed in his grip. However, the tears still kept falling, a testament to both their problems and their unnatural situations.

Artemis watched with a slight tinge of jealousy as Percy comforted his friend. She felt the inexplicable urge to punch the daughter of Athena out of the way and take her place with Percy. Dismissing those thoughts after tremendous effort, Artemis fled to her tent and began to cry very softly in her pillow.

What seemed like a long hour later, she heard the flap of her tent opening and quickly tried to wipe her tears. She turned to face the trespasser; it was Percy.

After a quiet glance over his surroundings, his eyes rested on the face of the lovely maiden goddess, obviously upset with someone. He walked up to her and knelt down, wiping her tears away with the back of his hand. He decided it would be more effect if he was to be in his true form; Artemis would likely not be consoled by a mere boy. However, as everyone knew, everyone had their own guardian angels, and guardian angels did not let people stay unhappy. In a manner of speaking, Percy Jackson was the first tangible guardian angel, and more importantly, his protégée needed consoling.

"Who is it, Artemis, tell me? Who did this to you?" He asked her softly. Artemis looked up at him, glad for once that he was in a more timeless form; she didn't think she would have been able to handle the Percy she had started to fall for.

Percy repeated his questions, before planting a quick kiss on her forehead, as a blessing. Artemis wouldn't answer, so Percy pecked her again before putting her to sleep. She would miss dinner, but it wasn't like Artemis needed mortal food, anyways. He tucked her in, caressing her head, before heading outside to join Annabeth and the Hunt in their dinner feast.

Annabeth smiled at him as he seemingly walked up to her, and she was about to ask him about a kiss when he turned towards the pile of firewood and began feeding the bonfire. Unperturbed, she decided to go and help him out.

"Annabeth, look, I don't know what to say. You left me, to go after some bloody higher being's work. I'm just not sure what I feel about you anymore."

Annabeth stopped in her tracks and her face took on the most heart-rending and sincerely regretful look that Percy had ever seen. It wasn't easy for a daughter of Athena to swallow her pride, but Annabeth was doing a very good job of it until now.

"I understand, Percy." Those three words seemed to hurt her to say a lot more than anything he had seen before, and he reconsidered. Unable to bear the look in his friend's eyes, he went up to her and gave her a satisfying kiss.

Artemis watched the scene in her dreams, and she willed herself awake. This was not fair, she thought; Annabeth just left him and he took her back in as if nothing had happened. She didn't know why she suddenly felt that way about her guardian. She had not expected this at all, and confused, she picked up her special bow and began to practice shooting at moving targets while blindfolded.

Aphrodite watched the scene from her Orb and chuckled lightly. She had twisted and turned the respect Artemis had for Percy into love, and she had messed with Percy to force Annabeth back into his life. She had promised the demigod a difficult love life, and she was intent on keeping that promise. After all, it was all just good fun, wasn't it?

* * *

Eris was tired of having to keep constant watch over her daughter. She didn't trust the campers back at Half-blood, and Emma had expressed her desire in the Hunt.

Personally, Eris had nothing against _that._ It would be fun to have a bit of chaos in Artemis' all-girls group. _Which I hear isn't all girls, anymore._

She hadn't met Percy Jackson yet, but she was certain that she would love to mess with him once she did. After all, a demigod of that calibre, the most powerful son of Poseidon ever born, was bound to have a few problems in his life.

Eris complied with her daughter's wishes, in the end. She would send her to Artemis; at least, that way she would be rid of the responsibility. Not that she minded it too much, but she _was_ a goddess, and she had many things to do, rather than simply keep constant watch over her daughter.

Emma was old enough to take proper care of herself, anyways. She had her daggers and throwing knives, and she had been given the gift of being able to open rifts or close them. _Metaphorically speaking, of course_. Discord was her gift, but few people knew that she could also be a great problem solver. That side of her had not been exercised much, however; in a fit of rage she had separated his father and step-mother, and when his father had found out, he had hated her for it.

No, it was decided, she'd grant Emma's wish. It was time for a trip to the Olympian's camp.

The next morning, Annabeth woke up in Percy's tent, much to Artemis' displeasure. She was infuriated; those _demigods_ disrespected her by sleeping in the same tent. Brandying a relationship in the face of the maiden goddess was not wise, and the only thing that kept Artemis from strangling Annabeth was the fact that they had slept on separate beds. True, there had been no more space left with the huntresses, and Artemis would not allow the demigod in her own tent, so the two in question really weren't to blame. Besides, they had probably slept together or at least near each other a lot during their quests.

It was time Artemis enlarged her available tents, anyway. Who knows, she might get a girl to join sooner or later; that huntress would _not _be sleeping in Percy's tent.

_But enough for now, let's see what Annabeth can do to help with the tracking._

Annabeth Chase had been practicing her archery on the special moving targets that Artemis had set up for her. She wondered what their next step would be, and if she could possibly find a way to track the perpetrator behind the seemingly unconnected events that had been simultaneously hitting both west and east coast cities.

Either Percy hadn't truly beaten Kronos and Gaea, or there was some greater evil, waiting to spring at them. She shuddered at the thought; those two had been the primary cause of death of many demigods. If they had succeeded with their plans, humanity would have been annihilated, most of their freedom gone and slaves to their will. As she took a break, she noticed Percy bring out the automaton she herself had blessed and decided it would be better to observe him while he sparred than keep shooting arrows. She had sorely missed him, and now that their separation was mended, she thought he might give her a proper chance.

The fight that happened in front of her was fascinating; she had no idea Percy was this powerful and fast; she thought herself the better fighter, due to Order's blessing. Now, however, it seemed that Percy and Sally were evenly matched in their battle prowess, and neither ceased to amaze her.

Sure, she had seen firsthand the construction of the automaton, she had blessed it; but she had never thought that it would be able to match Percy; _Hades, it's enough to be a match for me!_

After a long half hour of amazing swordsmanship from both of them, Percy seemed to be gaining the upper hand.

Of course, she didn't know that Percy had limited himself talent and not power; he didn't want Annabeth to find out about his powers, on the off chance that she would be watching him fight.

Just as he was about to land a winning blow, a huge flash of light appeared and flashed down next to their fight, and Percy grumbled.

"Gah! This is the second time that happens! First mom, now you!" Percy continued to grumble under his breath as he deactivated Sally and bowed to the deity in front of him.

Annabeth was shocked. If she was seeing properly, then this had to be the primordial god of light, Aether. What was he doing with Percy? She quickly switched to a more furtive form of movement and approached the two.

"Good to see your swordsmanship has improved since we last met, Archangel Perseus."

Annabeth let out an involuntary squeak as she heard him speak. _Archangel Perseus? Seems like I'm not the only one who's had weird things happen._

Percy hissed as he heard the squeak, then he realized that Annabeth must have seen and heard what happened, after all, no other presence was detectable, and everyone currently at camp knew who and what he was, as well as what he could do.

"Annabeth, come out, I can see you behind that shrub." Annabeth's cheeks reddened slightly before she could hide it. She came out from behind the nearest shrub and bowed to Aether.

"Lord Aether, it is a pleasure to finally meet you."

Said primordial simply gave her a quick nod before turning to Percy, muttering an almost silent apology for blowing his cover.

"It's fine, my lord. Annabeth, I just want you to know that this does not change anything between us, okay?" Annabeth's eyes widened as Percy took on his true form. She felt overjoyed for some reason, and she couldn't quite peg it to anything. She took a step back to fully gauge him. She drank in the sight of his magnificent wings of light, as well as the bright looking eyes that seemed to indicate vast wisdom and power.

A couple of minutes later, after Annabeth had agreed to keep her mouth shut, Percy explained his _situation_ to Aether. The latter listened to his rant, and simply smiled at the end of it.

Which did not go unnoticed by either demigod.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" Percy's usual blundering self shined through perfectly at that moment, and Annabeth herself had to stifle a laugh.

"No, of course not, Percy. But the reason I actually came to visit you is related to why your powers don't seem to be working properly, or with enough potency."

Eager to know, now, Percy sat up straighter, just like Annabeth, and Aether continued.

"How are you meant to keep the status of an Archangel, Percy? By doing whatever the Hunt tells you to? No, your actions have to be meaningful towards the proper functioning of the world! You are an archangel, you are the Spirit of Redemption! You cannot neglect your duties, Percy, that's what has been happening to you. You have been near people in need of the Spirit, and yet you did not deign give them a second thought. You need to remember, as long as you are the true Redemption, you will need to follow your duties. Otherwise the light will not shine brightly through you, and you will become a mere shell of your previous self. The shining beacon of the light, and you waste your time on trivialities and mundane duties."

Percy was annoyed by this. He could not serve both the Light and Artemis at the same time. Aether, however, understanding his dilemma, continued.

"The light does not require much, Percy. It simply requires its due when you pass by a soul in need, wherever it may be."

Percy finally understood; he wouldn't be able to help everyone, as much as he wanted to. However, those he could, he would help. After he gave an acquiescing nod to Aether, the primordial continued.

"Absolution is one of your most powerful tools, my friend. The light is your best one, but absolution grants pardon, and it grants safety and rest. You should try it; there is one amongst these maiden who sorely needs it." Percy was astounded at the news; one of Artemis' own huntresses was in sore need of absolution? He resolved to quickly get to the bottom of that mystery.

"Yes, I believe her name is... Acacia. Yes, that's right."

Without more ado, Aether left the two demigods and returned to his own realms. The demigods in question seemed rooted on their spot, as if only just comprehending the scope and severity of what Percy had been asked to do.

Percy left Annabeth with Sally, gave her the remote so she could to talk to his mother (apparently, Sally Blofis and Annabeth Chase had struck up a good friendship), and left to visit a certain brown haired girl he had come to think of as a little sister.

The twelve year old was practicing fighting with daggers against the training dummy. She was tired; she had gotten up early to get away from her bad memories; she didn't like telling anyone about them. She had once thought that maybe Percy could have helped, but then when she saw his sarcastic nature she hesitated and decided that she would be better off if she kept to herself. Not even Artemis knew what she regretted almost every night when she went to sleep.

As Percy reached where she was training, he let his consciousness reach out – something he had recently learned to do – and felt for those in need. He staggered back at the feeling; Acacia seemed to have a huge burden with her. He calmly walked up to her and asked her to look at him straight in the eyes.

At first, Acacia was spooked. She had not expected Percy to be in his true angelic form, and the second he asked her to look at him straight in the eyes; she felt an innate need to comply.

Percy stared deep into her soul and found the memories that kept troubling her; the boy, Eli, she had been running with, the boy who had protected and saved her from an ambush by a pack of hellhounds, the boy who had been almost dying when Artemis and her Hunt appeared to them. She had left Eli behind, not daring to look back, and he had succumbed to his wounds, a happy smile on his face as he did so.

Percy finally understood the need for absolution; this poor girl was tormented every night and assaulted by the haunting memories of her first friend, the friend she had abandoned in his time of need.

His voice took on a divine tinge, and he understood that the true spirit would be taking over for this part.

"Fear no more, child. I absolve you of your past memories. Sin or no sin, you will not be haunted by those any longer. Redemption is at hand, for your very friend's soul commands it. He has asked that you be freed from your torment, and wishes to tell you that you were never to blame."

With that, Percy thrust his sword into the ground and murmured a few incomprehensible words.

Acacia sighed as she fell into a peaceful trance, her eyelids drooping, and her whole posture relaxing. She didn't say anything when Percy picked her up gently and flew with her straight to her tent; nor did she say anything when her sisters nearby ran over, shocked. She was tired, and after a long while, she had finally received respite, and now she was sleeping like she had never slept before.

Percy immediately felt his powers growing, at an alarming speed. _Wow. Acacia must have been truly suffering from those memories._ When he tucked her in to her bed and walked outside, still in his true form, all the huntresses present flinched and bowed down to him. He was slightly puzzled by this and told them that he never liked people bowing down to him. The huntresses stared up, wide-eyed, as they noticed the being at the centre of the pure and intense blazing light was none other than Archangel Perseus.

The look of gratitude on Acacia's face later on made all the questioning and hassle from the other huntresses worthwhile.

It was now almost dinnertime, and they were expecting a guest. Artemis had just left her tent to inform the huntresses that they would be getting a new addition by dinnertime, a daughter of Eris who went by Emma. That had caused a fair amount of trepidation; after all, the last daughter of Eris to join Artemis had died five hundred years previously, under some _questionable_ circumstances.

Artemis had enlarged a few of the tents, creating space for another five Hunters, but she doubted that her ranks would fill quickly enough to require that many places. She smirked; _Annabeth won't have a reasonable excuse for not sleeping with the Hunt, now._

Aphrodite was almost squealing with excitement. Annabeth, Artemis, the soon to come Emma, maybe even the new Acacia; they would all find themselves enmeshed in a royal mess. _Perseus Jackson, I trust you to fall for at least three of them. I'll learn the reason why, otherwise._

* * *

Emma Rose was not what anyone expected her to be. She was an easy-going person, with an all around loveable character, with a slightly mischievous side to help her vent. At fifteen, Emma was almost the oldest looking huntress, apart from Thalia, and Percy couldn't help but notice her curves.

He suppressed all those kinds of thoughts, however; here was a new sister that he had to protect, and protect he would. He had turned off his true form, however; he did not want to scare the newest arrival on her first day.

Annabeth hadn't missed the fleeting gaze Percy had given Emma, but she shrugged it off as a look one would use to imprint a memory in their brain, to make sure that they never forgot something.

Artemis saw the look, and a rare flash of jealousy raged within her, and suddenly left her. She felt ready to cry; she hadn't felt this way before, and she hated feeling vulnerable and weak.

Eris and Aphrodite had struck up an accord; they would bring Artemis to her knees, and make her bow before the both of them. Eris' first daughter would be avenged, and Aphrodite would get what she had always wanted. Now all they needed was for Emma to be herself. After all, discord is always necessary for the proper functioning of society.

Far away, Ruin put the infant to sleep. She had a crazed look on her eyes; her murmurs were only heard by herself, and they were manic. An odd combination, to be sure, but then again, Ruin hadn't been exactly _normal_, nor in the best state of mind after she became the Spirit of Insanity. She uttered a few words, lost in the wind.

"Soon, my love, soon you will return to me. When you do, I'll finish what we started so long ago. You will be my husband, and I will eat your flesh."

* * *

**So, guys, how do you feel about this one?**

**Should I keep writing long-ish chapters, or should I stick to my 4k ones?**

**Reviews would be greatly appreciated. PMs even more.**

**Next update will likely be Finding Balance, and then Insanity and Redemption. :)**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back! *Dodges bullets and grenades***

**Sorry about the long wait. I had a legitimate reason, though. I got in a car accident couple weeks back, and I was kept in hospital till last Monday. I'm fine and all, just some shrapnel (from the gods know **_**where**_**) got stuck in my laterals. All good now, ish.**

**I've decided to explore a sort of Percy/harem relationship over the next few chapters, though Percy won't act like a pimp or anything. It'll involve genuine feelings and emotions and all that kind of yucky stuff.**

_**Oh, and this chapter is for you, Haley. Go fuck yourself and die in a ditch. No means no.**_

**Special thanks to StephOTH23 once again for being the awesome person that she is and writing the majority of this chapter. No joke, word-wise, she wrote exactly 60% of it. **

**She's currently writing a sweet Pertemis story called Red Sky in the Morning. I'd read it if I were you.**

**Also, many thanks to SayCheshire for having agreed to read this prior to publication. She's a pretty okay author with a refreshingly dry style, so yeah, kudos to her, and virtual cookies and cake, because it's her BIRTHDAY. Let's flood her with PMs!**

**Ah, who am I kidding, she's bloody brilliant. Though I suppose most of Fanfiction knows that.**

**Disclaimer: Take a look at the previous ones. Not happy with them? Suck it up.**

* * *

Bright sunshine. That's what Emma saw when she opened her eyes in the morning. Quietly muttering a string of curses, she got up from her not-so-soft bed and fumbled to the bathing area.

Yeah, she took a bath in the morning, and she justified it to no one. If anyone commented, she would shoot them a glare that would shut them up.

_I don't give a shit if you think it's too early. I'm cranky, I'm tired, and I'm dirty. So take your opinions out of my sight._

She didn't say it out loud, but she wished she did. Right now, she couldn't risk being chastised by Artemis because of her misdemeanour.

Therefore she briskly walked to the location of their bath, _generously_ created by the Guardian.

She noticed him only after removing her nightgown.

Percy Jackson had woken up feeling refreshed and immediately gorged himself on the nearest snack.

_No, not Annabeth's lips._

After a delicious breakfast, he'd decided to stretch his angel wings. Since he had acquired full power, his wings had begun to feel more and more tangible until he realized that since they were attached to him, it was only _normal_ that he should be able to feel them, intangible or not.

Right now, he needed to warm them up for later on the day. Percy got out of his tent and meandered across camp. He ended up by the bathing area he had created. He realized that none of the Hunters bathed at this point in the morning; they always showered, so technically he was in the right if he wanted to bathe.

He didn't take off his clothes; he didn't want to get wet, so neither would his apparel. He simply hid himself in the small tub-like area he had created that was connected to the main bathing pool, and he sighed softly. His muscles were tense, even after the long night of sleep; probably had something to do with Annabeth.

Now, though, they relaxed and stretched the way he wanted them to. He was beginning to feel uncomfortable in the warmth when he decided to take off his clothes; he could feel the beads of sweat forming. Water would remedy that.

At soon as he was done, Emma turned up next to naked.

* * *

Annabeth Chase was ecstatic. She had been accepted by Percy Jackson once again, and she had no qualms about making her claim known. After all, Percy was an extremely desirable prospect. Especially as the Archangel of the Light, but for once, Annabeth wasn't interested in him because of his potential. Being the champion of the light made no difference to her feelings for him. A fact that the daughter of Athena was proud of.

She had gotten a proper breakfast in the morning; and she was slightly miffed that _she_ hadn't been the one to see Percy naked in the morning. The story of what had taken place in the morning had circulated to her, even if it had been kept silent from all huntresses. Percy was extremely forthright about such matters, and his nature dictated that he let Annabeth know exactly of all that had happened.

Apparently, the second they had noticed each other Emma had screamed and Percy had blasted out his eternal form as the Spirit of Redemption. The amount of light in his body exuded, Annabeth knew, had forced everything in the vicinity to look away or suffer a spell of temporary blindness. Percy said he had taken flight after that. Annabeth could just imagine it: Emma's squeal (which she thought was probably a cross between surprise and delight, even if Percy had said she had been embarrassed), the brilliant light coming from Percy, the strong, soft, wings spreading out to their full width, dripping with water…

If only _she_ had found him.

Percy had found Annabeth almost immediately after having clothed himself appropriately, and had told her everything about the morning's incident. She had listened quietly to the whole long-winded, unnecessary explanation, remaining silent for a whole minute afterwards. Percy had been groaning internally all throughout, but Annabeth had ruined it by bursting out with laughter after the initial minute. Percy's look of consternation at her behaviour only caused her to laugh more, and in the end all was forgotten. Not forgiven, because there was nothing to forgive, of course. Percy would more likely have to ask forgiveness from Lady Artemis and the huntress, seeing as it almost went against their oaths.

Annabeth needed to see her boyfriend now, though. He had missed her tremendously, it seemed, and as such they needed to make up for lost time as much as they could. She walked around camp trying to find him, but he seemed to have vanished. She noticed a Hunter nearby, and wondered if she knew where Percy was.

"Hey. Acacia, right?" Annabeth jogged over to the Hunter. She was lolling against a tree with a pile of sharpened arrows by her side and was holding some kind of sharpening tool.

The girl looked up absentmindedly and her eyes narrowed slightly when her gaze settled on the blonde that approached her. "What?" Her tone was sharp, her voice blunt.

Annabeth, taken aback by the girl's seeming distaste for her, recoiled slightly, but pressed on anyway. "Well, I was wondering if you'd seen Percy anywhere..."

The dreamy expression that passed over Annabeth's eyes at the mention of Percy's name was not lost on Acacia. Her eyes tightened into slits and the corners of her mouth turned down firmly. She opened her mouth angrily, before closing it abruptly. Instead her face became the picture of innocence, doe-eyed with a sweet smile.

"Yes, I have, actually, Annabeth. He went for a walk in the woods. That way." Acacia stuck out a finger in the direction to which she was referring to.

"Okay, well, thanks... I guess." Annabeth raised her eyebrows suspiciously, intrigued by the huntress's sudden change in demeanour. She headed off to where Acacia had pointed to.

The hunter watched Annabeth with a smirk playing on her lips. When the slight shriek she had anticipated resonated throught the air, Acacia jogged towards Annabeth, who was now hanging upside down from a tree, a rope coiled round one of her ankles. Acacia relished the sight, saving the scene before her as a mental picture in her mind.

"What the Hades was this for!" An outraged Annabeth screamed from above Acacia's head.

"I won't let you hurt my Percy again." The hunter stated calmly before turning around and beginning to walk away.

"Your Percy?" Annabeth scoffed incredulously. "How old are you? Thirteen, fourteen? Percy would never be into a little brat like you! He has taste!"

Annabeth seemed to have struck a nerve in Acacia, as she froze and turned around slowly. "His taste obviously isn't great if he went out with a bitch like you! How could you leave him? Aren't you meant to be clever? Percy is the greatest man to have ever lived, and you dumped him like he was yesterday's trash. You broke the heart of the only decent hero any of us hunters ever met. The hunters don't like men, Annabeth Chase, but I won't let you hurt one of the few decent ones out there." She folded her arms across her chest, feet spaced about shoulder-width apart. She was the picture of defiance.

Annabeth lunged for Acacia's hair but failed, instead raking her nails down the girls face leaving three thin red lines of blood behind.

Acacia countered with a sharp slap.

Elsewhere in camp, Emma, the daughter of Eris could feel the chaos that was radiating from the argument like it was heat. She smirked, and decided it was time to turn the flickering flame of discord into a full-on inferno.

She found the pair spitting insults at each other.

"Only a total _idiot_ would dump him, and that makes _you_ an utter moron!"

"For Zeus's sake, I didn't have a choice!" The blonde screeched. "Either way, he's already taken me back!"

Apparently this was news to Acacia because she visibly blanched. "You're lying." Her voice was low and dangerous.

"Yeah, you're right, that's why he _sleeps _with me."

This was too much for Acacia, who lunged at Annabeth. The blonde responded with equal ferocity, shooting out a hand to slap the younger girl in the face. Before long they were a just a furious flurry of thrashing limbs and viciously spat insults.

"Girls, girls, girls... There really is no point in you arguing." The two girls, totally engrossed in their brawl, paid no heed to the daughter of the goddess of discord who had spoken to them. Emma did not seem fazed. Instead she assumed an off-hand tone, casually saying, "Because Percy is all _mine_."

That got their attention. The two girls froze instantly. Annabeth still had her fingers entangled in Acacia's hair, while the younger girl's nails were buried in the blonde's arms.

"What did you say?" Annabeth hissed. "Because in case you weren't aware Percy and I are together."

Acacia simply glared daggers at both the other girls.

Emma sighed, as if she deemed talking to the other girls a chore. "Why, Annabeth, would Percy want _that_?-" She gestured up and down Annabeth's body. "When he could have _this_?" She swept her hand down, presenting her own very enviable figure with a flourish. She then pointed at Acacia. "For Zeus's sake, _she_ has more curves than you!"

Annabeth reddened. Her athletic body was straight up, straight down and rather boyish. She was quite self-conscious about it, and Emma, as a daughter of discord, had picked up on that fact.

Acacia snickered.

"And like he'd be interested in you, kiddo. The guy isn't a paedophile." Emma shot at the youngest of the three. "Also, eyebrows."

Acacia blushed heavily, her hands going up to her slightly-bushier-than-average eyebrows.

Annabeth had now recovered fully from the dig about her figure. She threw her hands in the air, totally exasperated. "What is with you Hunters!? Do you not understand what 'eternal maidenhood' means!? I bet Lady Artemis would be _real_ happy."

Lady Artemis was indeed unhappy, but strangely enough it wasn't because two of her hunters liked a boy. No, it was because they liked_ her_ boy. Because, in Artemis' opinion, they could claim the boy for their own all they liked and it wouldn't change the fact that he was hers and hers _only_.

She had witnessed the whole fight from beginning to end. She had watched amusedly as Annabeth had found herself strung up from a tree by one leg. She had been filled with murderous hate as Annabeth spoke about kissing Percy. In some sadistic way she enjoyed watching cat fight that had broken out between Annabeth and Acacia. When Emma joined the argument, she had been surprised to find that Emma, whom Artemis had deemed to be a pretty nice person, was in fact a total bitch.

She was not surprised however, that they all liked Percy, because she had to face it, who wouldn't?

Neither hunter had an answer for Annabeth's question. Instead, Acacia just fired Annabeth's own question back at her. "Well, what would your so called 'Order' say about you and Percy?"

Annabeth was also answerless, and instead gave a strangled scream of anger. "I don't need to speak to either of you two morons." She stalked off, muttering under her breath.

"_Bitch!"_

"_Whore!"_

The hunters called insults after her, but Annabeth just sent them the one-fingered salute without turning around. It was obvious that there was not much love lost between the three.

"Slut!" Artemis called out from the confines of her tent.

Make that the four of them.

"Percy will be mine," Acacia vowed. Her eyes were narrowed in determination.

"Bring it on, kiddo."

With that, the hunters flounced away from each other in opposite directions.

* * *

Acacia found herself by a small pond that was situated just outside of the hunter's camp and stared at her reflection, and for the first time in her life she hated what she saw.

She was a pretty girl, and she'd always known that but now looking at herself she saw only faults.

She hated the youthful roundness of her face. She despised her half-developed body. She was too short, too…young. She wanted to be older. She wanted to _grow up._

She'd never wished for that before; half the reason she'd joined the hunt was so she could remain young and care-free forever. But now, after the older girls had made their fair point that Percy would never be interested in a young girl, she wanted more than anything to be fifteen or sixteen.

She dwelled on the thought for a while before a plan formulated in her brain.

Making her way back across camp, she approached Artemis' tent. She lifted her hand to knock at the door but hesitated. She drew a breath, though, and rapped her knuckles across the tent flap. It made a soft thudding noise against the taut canvas.

"Come in." Artemis' voice floated through the tent to Acacia's ears.

Acacia did as she was instructed. She bowed nervously as she entered. She was fairly new to the hunt and wasn't as at ease around the goddess as some of the older hunters.

The goddess waved her up impatiently. Her huntresses were her sisters; they need not bow before her.

"Acacia." Artemis forced a smile onto her lips. "How can I help you?"

"W-well, I w-was wondering if m-maybe…" Artemis relaxed. This nervous little girl was no rival for Perseus' attention.

_Not_ that Artemis wanted Perseus's attention, of course.

"What?" Artemis prompted, a genuine smile now lighting up her face. Artemis' relaxation caused Acacia to calm down slightly too.

She drew a deep breath and opened her mouth to speak.

"Well. Lady Artemis I was wondering maybe if it might be possible to make me look older, perhaps around fifteen?" She drew in another quick breath, not giving Artemis time to answer before launching into an explanation. "Because I feel that if my body was at its peak then I could be far more useful to the hunt. I'd be stronger, taller, faster, more powerful…."

Artemis was doubtful. She'd never had the request from a huntress before. It was certainly possible, but no hunter in all her millenniums of leading the hunt had felt the need to be older. None of the younger girls wished to be older either. Acacia was around the average age for members of the hunt.

"Also," The girl added. "My height makes me feel really weak, really useless. Maybe if I had an older appearance I'd grow a little." The girl looked to the floor sadly.

Artemis thawed slightly. Acacia was indeed rather short, even the ten year olds were taller than her. When they ran long distances her short legs were a hindrance. Her strides were small, so she was a good sprinter, but the hunt often had to chase monsters for miles and at these times she found it difficult to keep up.

"Very well." Artemis nodded almost imperceptibly. "This may hurt a little."

That was a slight understatement. Artemis looked contemplative before she raised her hand. Strands of silver seemed to materialise into the air and accumulate in her palm, forming a sphere of molten silver. With an apologetic smile, Artemis thrust her hand forward, palm outstretched. The silver hit Acacia with the force of a battering ram. She felt her body absorb it before she felt the agony. It was as if she was being pulled apart, like each of her limbs had been tied to a pack of sled dogs and somebody had yelled 'Mush!"

The pain lasted for what seemed like forever, but eventually it subsided. Acacia rose shakily to her feet and almost fell over again. She was so much higher up than before that it was like she was wearing platform shoes.

Looking down her legs, it appeared they had nearly doubled in length. She had definitely grown.

Turning to Artemis disbelievingly, she noticed that she was now taller than Artemis, who was in her sixteen year-old guise. Exulting at her new older form, she wrapped her long, slender arms around the goddess.

"Thank you so much, Lady Artemis!" She gushed, before tearing out of the tent, heading for the pond she had been at before.

Artemis watched slightly stunned as the girl left. As Acacia stood and revealed her fifteen year-old form, Artemis realised it was a _lot_ more womanly.

It occurred to Artemis that she might have a new opponent in the contest for Percy's heart. Of course, she was the only one who knew she was playing. She decided she needed some air and stepped out on the tent.

Meanwhile, Acacia reached the little pond, and once more she stooped over it in order to see her reflection. She almost screamed in delight at the sight that met her.

She was tall and slender with womanly curves, and all traces of puppy fat had disappeared.

Her face had lost its roundness and her cheekbones were prominent. Her eyes were framed by thick eyelashes that seemed to have grown also, and her previously bushy eyebrows had become neat arches. She smiled, and was happy to see that the slight gap she had between her teeth had disappeared.

Yes, Acacia was very pleased with her older form.

She took off running and laughed delightedly at the long strides her legs could take now. She felt stronger, faster, and most importantly, she felt older.

Acacia had grown up just like she wanted.

As the hunter ran back into the camp, she passed Artemis who smiled at her. She grinned back, too far away to see that the smile did not reach the goddess' eyes.

Artemis wasn't happy. She saw Acacia sprinting through the camp joyfully. In theory, seeing one of her huntresses so jubilant should have given her a sense of fulfilment but in this case the reason for the girl's happiness made her life more difficult. Artemis had never expected that Acacia would change so much, from a tiny little thing with a barely developed chest, bushy eyebrows and slightly crooked teeth, to a tall, willowy, curvaceous woman with a figure Aphrodite would approve of.

The slight hatred Artemis had begun to feel for Emma and Annabeth spread itself to Acacia too.

Artemis decided to look for Percy, thinking that she hadn't seen enough of him lately. Spying on him from her tent didn't count, of course.

When she did find Percy, at the river that ran along the outskirts of the forest where they had made their camp, Artemis was in for an unpleasant surprise.

Her ichor seemed to boil in her veins as she stumbled upon Percy holding Annabeth in his arms their faces pressed together as they played a passionate game of tonsil hockey.

Artemis felt a hot pressure behind her eyes, and realised that she wanted to cry. She hadn't shed a tear since Zoe's death, and now she was tempted to cry just because she walked in on Percy kissing someone? _The girl was not lying when she claimed that he took her back_, Artemis thought with an intensity hitherto unheard of, coming from her.

She began chiding herself for wanting to cry just because she saw a man kissing his girlfriend, but a small voice piped up in the back of her mind.

_It is not that you are upset about. It is that you saw your man kissing someone that is not you. You should smite the girl and kiss Perseus yourself!_

She ignored the advice the voice gave her, but had to admit that it was correct about why she was unhappy.

Just then, the pair broke apart, gasping for air. Annabeth caught her breath and leaned back in for another kiss, but was interrupted.

'What is the meaning of this?" Artemis hissed, her eyes narrowed. Now was the perfect time to intervene, as she had no wish to watch the couple kiss again.

"Oh, uh, Lady Artemis…" Percy stuttered with a bow. "Hi."

_Hi? That was all he had to say?_

Annabeth, however, was more tactful. She dipped her head respectfully. "I apologize, my lady. We did not mean for you to see that."

Artemis felt her eyes flash dangerously but she realised that she couldn't berate them severely. Neither of them had sworn vows of celibacy, nor were they actually inside the campsite, so she couldn't logically find a reason to blast Annabeth to Hades. Besides, she wasn't sure she would have been able to, now that Annabeth was the champion of Order.

"See that it doesn't happen again." Artemis snarled.

"You won't catch us again, Lady Artemis, I promise." Annabeth replied solemnly.

It was not unnoticed by the goddess that Annabeth hadn't promised to stop kissing Percy but merely that Artemis wouldn't stumble on them again.

The goddess met the girl's gaze, until the demigod dropped her eyes, intimidated by the territorial glare that the goddess sent her way.

Hoping Annabeth had gotten the message, Artemis stalked away back into the direction of camp.

As she left, Percy and Annabeth turned to one another.

"Hi?" Annabeth quoted Percy's oh-so-very-intelligent reaction to Artemis' interruption. "You really are a seaweed brain..."

She leaned in to continue their make-out session but Percy's response was half-hearted. After a few minutes, Annabeth broke the kiss. "What's wrong Percy?"

"Artemis is unhappy... I can feel it, and I have to help. It's my duty."

Annabeth nodded understandingly. As Percy's duty of Archangel of the light he had to help others. Also, Percy would have probably felt the need to go after Artemis anyway. It was after all his job to protect her from harm, whether mental or physical.

This didn't mean she was happy to watch her boyfriend chase after another woman, especially in the middle of their make-out session. She was consoled slightly by the fact that Artemis was a maiden goddess, _the_ maiden goddess. She wasn't interested in Percy. Although, Annabeth _was _having difficulty explaining why Artemis had sent her such a ferocious glare. The look had clearly been telling Annabeth to back off.

Meanwhile, Percy had almost caught up with Artemis. He was panting slightly as she had quite a head start.

"Lady Artemis! Wait!"

At that, the goddess looked over her shoulder, and upon seeing who had called her name broke into a sprint.

Now, in normal circumstances Artemis would travel through the forest with ease, as lithe as a cat and as graceful as a gazelle. On this occasion, however, Artemis was distracted. Her mind was entirely engulfed by thoughts of the man who was running after her.

It was for this reason that despite her acute Hunter senses she didn't notice the gnarled tree root that protruded from the forest floor. With a soft thump, she found herself face down in the soil. When she made a move to get up, however, she felt a sharp pain in her ankle. With a surge of annoyance Artemis realised that it was most likely broken. Being a goddess it would only take half an hour or so to heal, but it was still a nuisance.

"My lady..." Percy stopped for a moment before continuing, as he needed to catch his breath. "Are you okay?"

"Yes boy, I'm perfectly fine!" Artemis snapped.

Percy was slightly taken aback at the angry tone but didn't flinch, and instead calmly studied Artemis' ankle. "It's broken" He stated simply.

"You think I don't know that, _boy_? It is _my_ ankle, after all. Now leave me be. I shall be fine within half an hour."

"I'm taking you back to your tent."

"I told you to leave me be." Artemis growled through gritted teeth.

"And I told you that I'm taking you back to your tent." Percy countered in a steady tone as he bent down and scooped the goddess into his arms.

Artemis almost swooned as she felt Percy's strong arms wrap around her. As he drew her to him, his shirt rode up slightly so her body was pressed directly against his taut abdominal muscles. This, of course, infuriated her. She hated the way he could make her feel.

"Put me down _this instant_!" She began hitting him violently, but he paid no heed and instead began to fly. The sudden switch from earth-bound to airborne startled Artemis and she instinctively wrapped her arms around Percy's neck and marvelled at seeing the forest from a bird's eye view.

They reached her tent; Percy stepped in and laid Artemis down on her bed. "Here we are." He said kindly with a smile. He went to leave, but Artemis still had her arms firmly entangled round his neck; it didn't seem as if she had any intention of letting go.

"Uh, Lady Artemis?"

The goddess instantly withdrew her arms, snapping them back to her sides. Flustered, she felt heat rise to her cheeks. "Thank you Perseus, you may go." She said stiffly, turning away from him.

Percy was slightly confused but left nonetheless. On his way over to the tent he saw the Hunt's newest recruit, Emma, the daughter of Discord sprawled on the ground attempting to sharpen an arrow tip to no avail. She had a large pile of blunt arrows to one side of her. "Ugh!" She exclaimed, casting the arrow to the ground in frustration.

Percy smiled, slightly amused, and knelt down beside her. "Need some help?"

Emma nodded gratefully. "Gods yes, I never imagined sharpening arrow heads could be so _difficult_!"

"I know the feeling." Percy replied with a kind smile as he demonstrated to her how to sharpen the arrow effectively. "When I first joined the hunt, I was completely hopeless."

Emma felt her stomach flip as he smiled out her. She froze. She couldn't have feelings for Percy… Sure, she was going after him, but that was just to invoke her favourite element – discord. She never planned on actually _feeling _anything.

But she knew that even if she didn't wish to have feelings for Percy, she had them, because when he handed her the tools so she could try for herself, she felt a spark pass through her and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Yes, Emma _definitely_ had feelings for Percy.

Averting her eyes from his face, she attempted to replicate the method for sharpening the arrows that Percy had shown her, and was successful.

"Well, it seems you've got the hang of it!" Percy said cheerfully, rising to his feet and brushing the dirt off his trousers before heading back towards his tent. Emma watched his retreating figure, but the image of Perseus lingered on her mind until long after he had disappeared from view.

She needed to catch up with him, though. He needed to know that she had no problems with what had happened between the two of them that morning. Percy had cautiously skirted around the topic when he talked with her, and Emma was both grateful and saddened by it. It was a clear message to her, at least in her mind: Percy was inviting her to take the first step, as he needed some convincing to be with her, seeing as he already had Annabeth.

Of course, she knew _nothing_ about Percy Jackson, because the Archangel never insinuated anything like that at all. In fact, the guy was pretty simple-minded and oblivious in this domain; he hadn't been good at it the past seven years of his life, he certainly wasn't miraculously good at it now.

Before she could continue and act upon her wrong impression (and thus lose any slight chance with Percy that she may have had), however, fate saved her.

It came in the form of Artemis. The goddess looked kindly at the Hunter, even though the smile didn't reach her eyes; it wasn't lost upon the daughter or Eris, who gulped.

"Milady," she said respectfully. Before she got the chance to continue, however, Artemis spoke up.

"Relax, Hunter. I don't require a formal code of conduct at all times, though it is good practice. I simply came to check up on how you were doing with the arrows, and if you needed any help." Artemis smirked inside at this; Emma would definitely need help; there was no way the Hunter knew the proper method to sharpen arrows effectively without wearing herself out.

She was unpleasantly surprised when the huntress gave her a dignified answer. "No, thanks, Milady. Percy stopped by and showed me how to do it properly."

The feeling of jealousy flared up inside Artemis almost immediately, but she kept it in check. This was getting ridiculous; Percy Jackson was the Guardian of the Hunt, of course he would be expected to help out her Hunt wherever and whenever he could. She suddenly had a disquieting thought. Was she being manipulated by Aphrodite or someone else to feel these things for Percy? She wasn't sure, but she made certain that she would find out before the end of the day. However, this didn't make any sense; who would actually gain anything by causing her to fall in love with an Archangel? He wasn't by any definition a normal male; it wasn't like Aphrodite would be winning the long-standing debate of theirs about males.

She couldn't deny the feeling of pure and unadulterated pleasure that she had felt in the Archangel's arms, nevertheless. This was going to be slightly more difficult than she had anticipated.

It also didn't help that the main reason she had gone over to Emma was because she had felt the Archangel's light signature in the surroundings, and she needed his _help_ with a slight problem of hers. A problem named Annabeth.

She excused herself from Emma, letting her know that she was doing great and would be finished quickly if she kept at it for another hour. It was an obvious intonation for Emma to stay seated and continue doing her work; and the poor Hunter couldn't do much else, not without risking Artemis's ire, or worse.

* * *

Percy had left Emma with a smile on his face which did not match his emotions at all. He was still slightly nervous from the morning's incident.

_Get a grip, Percy!_ _Now's not the time to get caught up in these thing. You've finally managed to get your Annabeth back, don't fuck up now._

_Have I, though? Is she really mine?_

His mind seemed to have split up into different parts to allow him to have a conversation with himself, a fact that was almost lost on Percy. However, when the converged together again, he realized what had happened and let out an inhuman squeal. His hand slapped his mouth shut the second after, though; he couldn't afford to let anyone think there was anything wrong with him, and he most certainly would get laughed at if anyone had heard his scream.

When he had calmed down, though, he sat himself on a nearby log and began to reflect on the day's events. He had heard some of the Hunters discussing some sort of an argument between Emma, Acacia, and Annabeth related to something about him. Maybe they were extremely mad at him and Annabeth had been trying to protect him. He decided that was probably the case, and resolved to find Emma any way and apologize to her. Perhaps that was the reason why she had seemed frustrated when he saw her working on the arrows. It wasn't because she didn't know how to; it was because she was mad at Percy. And he had gone and showed her how to do something better than her. _Oh gods, I'm in deep trouble! She probably thinks I'm a conceited piece of shit as well as a pervert now!_

Feeling like a failure was not something that Percy was accustomed to, and he realized he had to go and correct his mistakes right away.

As he got up from his log and fluttered his wings out, he noticed a girl in a Hunter's dress happily sauntering at the edge of the pool. His curiosity piqued, he went over to her, wondering about her as he was pretty sure he had not seen her before.

His mind was not able to reconcile the girl in front of him with her face, however, when he got close to her.

It seemed like Acacia had grown _quite _considerably since they had last seen each other, something that should not have been possible. Which could only mean one thing: Artemis had done this to her. He was about to turn away when Acacia looked around to him. He was forced to acknowledge her now, and there was no way to quickly disappear from this without creating another awkward situation.

She broke the ice, though.

"Hey Percy! Look at me! I asked Milady to make me grow up a bit because I felt short and stuff so yeah, look at me!"

_I am looking at you. I'm looking at all of you, and I can't look away, for some reason._ He didn't say it out loud, though.

"Er, yeah, I'm looking at you. This is great! You're taller than Artemis now." _And much more mature looking._

He could see her eyes widen in joy as he talked with her from there on. He learnt quite a lot of things from her, and so did she from him, and at the end she was pleasantly surprised to see that Percy was still looking straight at her face and not her curves.

_He really is perfect._

When Percy left, Acacia did a small dance by herself. Percy may not have been looking at her or acted towards her in a way that could even be loosely described as romantic, but his attitude towards her _had_ changed; that much was obvious. For one, he had spent a lot of time with her, something he would not normally have done, and she decided she would follow Percy for a while to see what he was up to.

No, not stalking, of course. Just supervising him, from a distance.

_Keep telling yourself that, Acacia._

* * *

Percy had found Emma, who had been assigned to helping out with laundry after she had finished with the arrows, and he was happy to find that she didn't believe he had any reason for being nervous or sorry about the morning's incident. After all, he _had_ quite literally ejected himself from the surroundings, and Emma really hadn't seen anything, just as she was sure that Percy hadn't quite seen her, either.

Little Rosie had clamoured for Percy to give her a ride, and the Archangel had no other choice than to obey the demanding little authoritative figure **(A/N Reminds me of someone. You know who you are)**. After a long hour of exhausting flying manoeuvres, however, she had been forced to let him land; it was dinnertime.

Percy was extremely grateful to Artemis for having called it earlier than usual and he gave her a quick smile. Of course, it was met with a cold stare. He shuddered slightly before turning away.

He would never understand women. Or goddesses, for that matter.

One moment she seemed to adore him, then the next he was worse than Kronos. What was it with women, anyways? He didn't ask for much, only to be accepted by them _and_ left alone, as well as that they let him do his duty. Was that so damn difficult for them?

He retired to his tent right after dinner, which wasn't lost on the Hunt. They all doted on him in their own special way, and some of them tried to show it, but only five of them truly _desired_ him.

Annabeth decided this was the perfect time to flaunt her possession to the whole hunt, and while being respectful to Artemis, she joined Percy in his tent; one of the tents had been torn apart by a playful new wolf cub, and they'd had to relocate her. Percy, ever the gentleman (or was it something else?), had offered her his own tent.

* * *

Desire is a curious, unstable, and dangerous emotion.

It raged with burning passion in the hearts of four Hunters as they imagined with slight revulsion what Annabeth might be doing with their Guardian angel, and it perplexed the Goddess of the Hunt so much that she had to excuse herself from the Hunt and make a private house call to Aphrodite.

When she got there, however, she overheard Eris finishing a conversation with Goddess of Love, before retreating to her business quietly. What she heard, however, incensed her. _This_ was their idea of revenge? Toying with her Guardian's heart and cause him extreme pain and suffering? Why, because he was associated with _her_? _Perseus Jackson is right. We are indeed petty. _

_I promise you this, my guardian; I will save you and keep you from harm, in any way I can. This is the least that I can do; after all you've done for me and my Hunt, this is the best way to repay your services._

If she had realized then that Hera had manipulated her into making this promise, Artemis would have probably blown a fuse. It fit the gods so well, though.

After all, what are the lives of mortals to the gods but petty distractions, games waiting to be played?

* * *

**So, how did you all like this one? I personally loved the bits I didn't write.**

**Reviews and PMs are the only for me to know what you guys want, like, or don't like, so communicate.**

**Also, apologies to younger, sensitive readers about the language used in this chapter. If you feel the need to, go ahead and talk about it to the nearest adult. **

**Yes, that was a joke.**

**J'attends patiemment vos réponses, mes chers lecteurs. Ne me décevez pas, s'il-vous-plaît. **


End file.
